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THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 



THE KING WHO 
NEVER REIGNED 

BEING MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII BY 

ECKARD AND NAUNDORFF WITH A 

PREFACE BY JULES LEMAITRE OF THE 

ACADEMIE FRANCAISE, TOGETHER 

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 

MAURICE VITRAC AND ARNOULD 
It 

GALOPIN, TO WHICH IS ADDED JOSEPH 
TURQUAN'S "NEW LIGHT UPON THE 
FATE OF LOUIS XVII " 



New York 

THE JOHN McBRIDE COMPANY 

Publishers 

1909 



V 



THE KING WHO 
NEVER REIGNED 

BEING MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII BY 
ECKARD AND NAUNDORFF WITH A 
PREFACE BY JULES LEMAITRE OF THE 
ACADEMIE FRANCAISE, TOGETHER 
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 
MAURICE VITRAC AND ARNOULD 
GALOPIN, TO WHICH IS ADDED JOSEPH 
TURQUAN'S "NEW LIGHT UPON THE 
FATE OF LOUIS XVII " 



New York 

THE JOHN McBRIDE COMPANY 

Publishers 

1909 



PREFACE 

One of the characteristics of our time seems to 
be curiosity, and especially curiosity about matters 
of minor importance. Are newspapers responsible 
for this fact ? Or is curiosity answerable for the 
rage for interviews, tit-bits of information and 
articles upon topical subjects now so prevalent ? 
Honours are probably divided; at all events the 
origin is of little importance. 

This curiosity concerning past events has helped 
to insure success to the numerous "Recollections" 
and " Memoirs " which have been, and are now 
being, published. The memorialist of old days was 
a reporter, though he knew it not, for did he not 
note down daily events and show us celebrities in 
their homes ? And if he was sometimes biassed in 
his opinions or only told half the truth, after all he 
was not unlike his confrere of to-day. 

Another reason for this success is the fact that 
these memoirs are often quite as dramatic and as 
exciting as the modern novel ; they even possess 
one distinct advantage, because they are usually 
true or partly true. Now most readers, now-a- 
days, love realistic details and what they are pleased 
to call " dramas in real life." 



vi PKEFACE 

And thus the taste for history, at least for the 
history of unimportant events and for amusing 
anecdotes, such popular subjects for conversation 
and discussion, became universal. But at the same 
time, we must confess that many errors and false 
reports were circulated from time to time by party- 
men and unscrupulous politicians. 

How, then, can we satisfy this taste for the 
private history of past centuries while strictly 
keeping to the truth ? This question has been 
answered by those well-known scholars, MM. 
Maurice Vitrac and Arnould Galopin. Having 
chosen a celebrated event or personage, they con- 
sult some contemporary authority ; perhaps they 
ask the actor himself to make his confession, which 
confession they verify by other contemporary 
evidence and complete by numerous documents 
for which, during the last thirty years, critics have 
been searching our libraries and archives. And 
that is not all. Old engravings have been ex- 
amined, the oldest and rarest have been taken from 
the portfolios in which they have lain for so many 
years. And thus, these contemporary drawings, by 
placing before our eyes the scenery, costumes and 
gestures of those days, give life and animation to 
the picture. 

Such is the idea of MM. Maurice Vitrac and 
Arnould Galopin. They have already realized this 
scheme in a particularly happy manner in a series 
of volumes upon " Fouche,'' " La Famille Royale au 



PREFACE vii 

Temple,'' " La RegenceT " Sous la Terreur^ " 1814^' 
" Madame de Pompadour,'' " L' Imperatrice Josephine," 
" Le Due de Lauzun," etc. We wait impatiently 
for the continuation of this amusing representation 
of past events by " Memoirs," engravings and old 
secrets now revealed for the first time. 

Jules Lemaitre 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



To face page 

Frontispiece 



LOUIS XVII {^from a German print) 

LOUIS XVI .... 

THE SEPARATION OF LOUIS XVI FROM HIS FAMILY 

LOUIS XVII AT THE AGE OF EIGHT 

MARIE-ANTOINETTE BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY 
TRIBUNAL ..... 

MADAME ELIZABETH AT THE AGE OF TEN 

THE INVASION OF THE HOTEL DE VILLE 

PELLETAN . 

NAUNDORFF 

THE TEMPLE PRISON 

CHARLES X 

MARIE-ANTOINETTE 

ANTOINE SIMON . 

LA DUCHESSE d'aNGOULEME 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE . 



32 

72 

84 

100 
IIO 

122 

178 
232 
268 
298 

342 



VUl 



INTRODUCTION 

The work which we now pubHsh contains two 
very distinct and, we might almost say, opposite 
parts. 

The first part comprises Eckard's Memoirs upon 
the captivity and death of Louis XVII, while the 
second part is composed of NaundoriFs Recollec- 
tions. It may be as well to explain why we chose 
these two works. 

Although Eckard's book is no longer very new, 
it is extremely valuable. Historians who, from 
time to time, have written about Louis XVII, 
quote largely from this work ; we may say that 
these memoirs have formed the basis for all 
ulterior researches. And it could hardly be other- 
wise. For Eckard was not content with searching 
and consulting printed documents and manuscripts 
treating of this subject ; but he also interrogated 
numerous survivors of the revolutionary epoch, 
and thus he learnt, from those qualified to inform 
him, many details which, but for him, would 
never have been known. In order to be just, we 
must confess that, as time went on, several other 
historians added to the original foundation ; and 



X INTRODUCTION 

the works of De Beauchesne, Chantelauze and La 
Sicotiere contributed in no small measure to the 
history of the Dauphin, Louis XVII. We are 
enabled by numerous notes to complete, as much 
as is necessary, Eckard's text. Thus completed, a 
new edition of Eckard's Memoirs worthily repre- 
sents the monument erected by eminent historians 
to the memory of the child in the Temple. These 
historians, and De Beauchesne in especial, have 
shown marvellous ingenuity in their researches, 
and have made use of first-class material. We 
can see that they had but one object in view, and 
that object was to search patiently for the truth ; 
and they were aided in this sometimes ungrateful 
task by their deep affection and pity for this 
fair-haired child whose last years were so cruelly 
embittered, and who, familiar with sorrow and 
already weary of life, sank into the grave at the 
early age of ten years. 

The first portion of our work comprises the 
life of the Dauphin written by historians who 
only relate established facts and admit of nothing 
which has not been proved by reliable documents. 
This history is scornfully termed " official " by 
those authors who declare that the little prisoner 
escaped and survived the cruel treatment to which 
he had been subjected. If, by this, they mean 
that the most eminent historians of all national- 
ities, holding the most opposite opinions, have 
always declared such an escape impossible, and 



INTRODUCTION xi 

that Naundorff and the Dauphin were not the 
same person, they are right. But we must be just 
towards the partisans of the theory of escape and 
survival. Some of these authors have expended 
an enormous amount of labour, and, in order to 
sustain their thesis, have tried to rewrite the 
history of France since the Revolution. Their 
efforts, however, have not met with all the success 
expected by them ; after nearly half-a-century of 
labour they have been unable to produce one single 
historical proof to support their assertions. Even 
in a land where " veiled ladies " ^ still find people 
sufficiently credulous to believe their statements, 
these historians have met with few supporters. 
They have failed in their task. Why ? Because, 
even if truth had been on their side, their method 
of writing history was too faulty. Their judgment 
was doubly erroneous. They thought that, in 
order to discover the truth, they need only collect 
second or third hand evidence : volumes of value- 
less evidence gain nothing by being placed in 
juxtaposition, thus : + = 0. They finally 
agreed to consider the theory of escape as hypo- 
thetical, and endeavoured to prove that history 
could furnish many examples of such escapes. 
Now, it is a scientific principle that a hypothesis 
only becomes unconfutable when it is confirmed 
by facts. However, this method of reasoning, 

^ An allusion to the celebrated " veiled lady " of the Dreyfus 
case. — Translator's note. 



xii INTRODUCTION 

applicable in natural science, is inapplicable in 
historical matters ; for on one hand historical facts 
do not lend themselves to experiments, and on the 
other hand they lack the rigidity of physical 
realities. And so, although we acknowledge the 
efforts of the naundorffistes^ many of whom are 
thoroughly sincere and disinterested, we think it 
best to republish NaundorfFs Memoirs. These 
memoirs form the second portion of our volume. 
We shall read, as related by himself, the life of 
the false Dauphin from 1795 to 1830. We con- 
sider that these memoirs prove the fallacy of 
NaundorfF's cause. 

Besides the material impossibility of escape as 
related by him, we shall read the account of 
NaundoriFs life from 1795, date of the pretended 
escape, until 18 10, when he appeared in Berlin. 
No novelist could be so utterly wanting in 
imagination as to write such a ludicrous tale. 
No one could be credulous enough to believe this 
grotesque narration of peregrinations, maladies 
and imprisonment in mysterious and unknown 
places. It is inadmissible that a man can forget 
his own history from his tenth until his twenty- 
fifth year. Naundorjff evidently wished to say 
nothing concerning this period of his existence. 
And again, we can and we do notice in his 
improbable narrative several gaps, incongruities 
and contradictions. If Naundorff invented these 
childish tales, if he voluntarily left in the shade 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

that period of his life dating from his escape until 
his reappearance, it was because he did not know- 
enough of the history and the current events of 
that period to be able to concoct his romance ; he 
knew nothing of La Vendee, although he declared 
that he had been there, and he knew a great deal 
about Italy, where he had probably lived for some 
time. We find that, when forced to rely upon 
his own imaginative faculties, he can only invent 
ridiculous falsehoods. This fact alone would con- 
demn the whole affair, even if we could persuade 
ourselves to believe in the story of his escape, 
notoriously false and less ingenious than many of 
the tales invented by the twenty-five false Dauphins 
who, from time to time, endeavoured to usurp this 
same role. 

Maurice Vitrac and Arnould Galopin 



PART I 

HISTORICAL MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 
By Eckard 



THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII. 

Louis XVII only lived ten years and a few 
months ; the title of king was only borne by him 
for a very short time, and he exercised none of the 
august functions attached to that title. For this 
reason many writers concluded that his life offered 
little matter worthy to be recorded by the zealous 
historian. 

And yet it would be difficult to find, either in 
modern or in ancient history, a subject giving us a 
more horrible, more interesting or more realistic 
idea of the cruelty of man and of the nothingness 
of human grandeur. 

Louis- Charles de France was born at Versailles, 
March 27, 1785 ; he was baptized on the day of 
his birth, Monsieur, the king's brother, being his 
godfather and Madame Elisabeth his godmother, 
as proxy for the queen of Naples. After the 
ceremony the prince, having been taken back to 
his apartments, M. de Calonne, chief-superintendent 
of the Finances and treasurer of the Ordres du Roi, 
2 17 



18 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

presented him with the Ordre du Saint-Esprit. ^ 
His Majesty, at the moment of the child's birth, 
had bestowed upon him the title of due de 
Normandie, which title had not been given to 
the sons of the royal house of France, since it was 
borne by Charles, fourth son of Charles VU, who 
later became due de Berry, de Normandie et de 
Guyenne, and died at Bordeaux in 1472. 

Several writers, including M. de Montjoye, in 
speaking of the young prince, assert that the 
king bestowed upon him the title of due de 
Normandie in memory of the hearty and affec- 
tionate welcome accorded to his Majesty by the 
inhabitants of that province during one of his visits 
to Cherbourg. But the departure of Louis XVI 
to inspect the magnificent works executed at his 
command in the seaport town did not take place 
until June 21, 1786, fifteen months after the birth 
of Louis-Charles, The childhood of Louis-Charles 
was uneventful. No one took much notice of him 
until France was bereaved by the death of his 

1 Ordre du Saint-Esprit : an order of knighthood instituted 
December 31, 1578, by Henri III of France in commemoration 
of his election to the crown of Poland and of his accession to the 
throne of France on the feast of Pentecost. The number of 
knights was limited to one hundred, including nine ecclesiastics ; 
they wore a four-armed cross in gold adorned with a dove, the 
symbol of the Holy Ghost, suspended from a wide blue ribbon. 
To obtain this order, the postulant had to be a Catholic, a member 
of the nobility, and to possess the order of Saint-Michael. The 
order was abolished in 1789, but re-established during the 
Restauration ; it was finally abolished in 1830. — Translator's note. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 19 

elder brother. The Dauphin, who had reached 
an age when the nation was beginning to hope 
that he would fulfil its expectations, died in 
Meudon, June 4, 1789, to the grief of the Court 
and of the whole kingdom ; and yet he was 
fortunate to depart this life at the moment when 
happiness was preparing to take a long farewell of 
the royal family. By the death of his brother, 
the due de Normandie became heir to the crown. 
He then assumed the title of Dauphin, which title 
had been borne by the eldest sons of the kings of 
France ever since Hubert II, dauphin de Viennois, 
ceded his estates to Philippe de Valois in 1349. 

The new Dauphin had just passed his fourth 
birthday. His shape was perfect, his face noble 
and smiling, his head adorned with beautiful curls 
which hung down over his shoulders ; his features 
bore the same kindly expression seen in the count- 
enance of Louis XVI, and traces of the queen's 
dignity were already visible. Every morning, this 
charming, vivacious child used to run into the 
gardens of Versailles and gather flowers to place on 
his mother's dressing-table before she arose. When 
bad weather prevented him from gathering his 
bouquet, he used to say sadly : 

" I am not pleased with myself, I have done 
nothing for Mama to-day ; I don't deserve her 
first kiss." 

The king wished to cultivate in his son this 
love for nature, so well calculated to develop his 



20 THfe KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

bodily strength. He gave him a Httle plot of 
ground situated on the terrace of the palace in front 
of his own private apartments. The young prince 
was provided with all the necessary garden tools 
and spent all his spare time in this garden. 

Never did the queen forget her children. At 
the time when calumnious reports declared that 
she was engrossed in idle pleasures, she was spend- 
ing the greater part of her time in fulfilling her 
maternal duties. Every day at ten o'clock, an 
under-governess used to bring her children to see 
her ; in her presence, they received their daily 
instruction from their different masters. The 
Dauphin's happy disposition expanded like a flower, 
thanks to this affectionate care ; he already showed 
signs of splendid qualities and promised to inherit 
all the virtues of his august parents. 

That few children have ever shown such a 
precocious mind is proved by the following anec- 
dote. One day, on the eve of the queen's birthday, 
Louis XVI wished his little son to present his 
mother with a very beautiful bouquet and to 
compose, unaided, his little letter of good wishes. 

" Papa," replied the prince, " I have got a 
beautiful everlasting in my garden ; it will serve 
both for my bouquet and for my letter of good 
wishes. When I give it to Mama, I shall say 
to her, ' I hope. Mama, that you will resemble 
this flower.' " His repartees were admired for 
their charm and ingenuity. One day, while 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 21 

learning his lessons, the Dauphin began to hiss. 
His tutor, the Abbe d'Avaux, rebuked him. The 
queen, entering unexpectedly, gently expostulated 
with him upon his conduct. " Mama," replied 
he, " I was hissing at myself because I had just 
said my lesson so badly." Another day, while in 
the garden of Bagatelle, the excited little Dauphin 
was about to rush through a hedge of rose bushes. 
" I ran up to him," says M. Hue. "' Monseigneur,* 
cried I, holding him back, ' one of those thorns 
might blind you or tear your face.' He turned 
round and, looking at me with a noble, determined 
air, replied, ' Thorny paths lead to glory.' " 

Alas ! that such interesting details should in 
future be mingled with the narration of numberless 
and unexampled misfortunes ! The Revolution 
broke out. After the taking of the Bastille several 
persons, well known for their devotion to the 
royal family, were massacred. Among the families 
exposed to the fury of the populace, none had more 
to fear than the de Polignac family ; its members 
had enjoyed too many favours not to have excited 
jealousy. Fearing for the safety of the duchesse 
de Polignac and of her family, the queen com- 
manded them to leave her. The duchesse refused 
to go ; the queen insisted and Madame de Polignac 
obeyed. Under pretence of going to take the 
waters, the latter went abroad, but as the royal 
children's governess could not absent herself 
indefinitely, she resigned her position. The queen 



22 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

chose Madame la marquise (now Madame la 
duchesse) de Tourzel to fill this important post. 

Towards the end of September, the storm which 
had been gathering in Paris threatened to burst 
over Versailles.^ A dinner given by the king's 
bodyguards and honoured by the presence of his 
Majesty, the queen and the Dauphin, served as a 
pretext to give the signal for insurrection. On 
October 5, a mob formed of the inhabitants of 
\h^ faubourgs started off for Versailles ; between four 
and five o'clock in the afternoon, the procession 
appeared in the avenues leading to the palace. 
Shortly afterwards, bands of brigands invaded, and 
took possession of, the royal apartments. Fearing 
for his son's life, the king ran to the chamber of 
that precious child ; in order to hide from the 
rebels he was obliged to pass through a dark, 
subterranean passage. He carried the prince in his 
arms ; during his flight, the candle which he was 
holding suddenly went out. He crept along in 
the dark until he reached his own apartment, where 
he found the queen, who, having hastily put on a 
skirt and thrown a dressing-gown over her 
shoulders, had taken refuge there. Madame 
Royale, Monsieur, Madame, Madame Elisabeth 

^ For the first part of Eckard's Memoirs^ containing the 
events of October, the life in the Tuileries, the terrible deeds of 
August 10, and the captivity of the royal family in the Temple 
as briefly related by a fervent royalist, we recommend our readers 
to consult the notes contained in the Journal de CUry recently 
published by us. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 23 

and the marquise de Tourzel had also gone there 
for shelter. The royal family, thus reunited, were 
better able to await the fate which threatened them. 
At last some of the national guards who, 
although perfidious orders had hitherto prevented 
them from doing their duty, had remained faith- 
ful to the royal family, rescued several body- 
guards from the hands of the assassins, and leading 
them to the palace, together they chased the 
brigands from the royal apartments : the lives 
of Louis XVI and of the queen were no longer in 
danger. La Fayette went up into the king's 
apartment and requested him, in the people's name, 
to come that very day to take up his abode in 
Paris; he described in the most alarming terms the 
danger which his Majesty would incur if he 
refused to do so. Forced to consent to all these 
demands, the king stepped on to the balcony, and 
announced his intention of starting with his whole 
family for the capital. " Let the queen show 
herself ! " cried several voices. The queen 
appeared holding the Dauphin in one hand, and in 
the other Madame Royale. A horrible cry went 
up, " No children ! " What a wish ! The queen 
immediately re-entered with her children, whom she 
placed in the king's arms ; then proud and calm, 
she appeared on the balcony and gazed down at the 
crowd. The populace, struck with admiration, 
applauded. The leaders of the rebellion were 
disconcerted. 



24 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

The royal family were not even allowed suffi- 
cient time to make the necessary preparations for 
their departure. At one o^clock, the king, the 
queen, the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Monsieur, 
the king's brother, Madame, Madame Elisabeth, 
and the marquise de Tourzel entered their 
carriages. During the journey, or rather during 
this seven-hours' torture, they were escorted by a 
crowd composed of mud and blood bespattered 
brigands armed with pikes, rumbling gun-carriages 
and drunken women with dishevelled locks, singing 
obscene songs and uttering horrible shrieks. 

Louis XVI went to dwell in the Tuikries, 
uninhabited by our kings since the minority of 
Louis XV. No preparations had been made for 
the king's arrival ; the apartments were totally 
devoid of any of the comforts usually enjoyed by 
private persons endowed with a certain fortune. 
This palace practically became the prison of the 
royal family. Paris seemed appeased by the 
presence of this august family. For a few days the 
populace gave full vent to their extravagant delight. 
" There will be no more poverty now," cried they ; 
" we've got the baker, the baker^s wife, and the 
baker's little boy." Such were the names given 
by them to the king, the queen and the Dauphin. 

Shortly after the king's arrival, the Assemblee 
nationale^ thought fit to visit their Majesties in 

^ AssemhUe nat'tonale or constituante^ an assembly instituted at 
Versailles, May 5, 1789, under the title of Etats gknhaux. It 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 25 

order to offer them their respects. The deputies 
passed from the king's apartment into the queen's 
chamber. After having thanked the president for 
his congratulations, the princess, taking in her arms 
the heir to the throne, showed him to the AssembUe, 
Cries of " Long Hve the king ! long live the queen ! 
long live the Dauphin ! " were enthusiastically- 
repeated. For a brief space, Marie Antoinette 
forgot her misfortunes. 

But soon the disturbances recommenced. On 
February 4, 1790, Louis XVI went to the 
Assemblee nationale and besought the members to 
unite their efforts to his, so that the people, who 
had been led astray, might realize his endeavours to 
promote their interest. " I love my good people 
with all my heart," said the king, " and when my 
friends wish to console me for my sorrows, they 
tell me that my people return my love." His 
Majesty left the chamber amid loud applause. 

was originally composed of 291 members of the clergy, 270 mem- 
bers of the nobility, and 595 members of the tiers hat {or common- 
alty). The nobility and clergy having refused to sit with the tiers 
4tat, the members of the latter body formed themselves into a 
deliberating assembly which they called the Assemblh nationale 
(June 17, 1789). Louis XVI, displeased by this act of inde- 
pendence, first tried to dissolve the assembly, and then caused the hall 
at Versailles, in which they held their meetings, to be closed. The 
deputies then assembled in the Salle du Jeu de Paume (June 20), 
and swore that they would not separate until they had obtained a 
constitution for France. The king, having vainly tried, during the 
shnce of June 23, to intimidate the assembly, was finally obliged to 
accept the union of the three orders (June 27, 1789). — Translator's 
note. 



26 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

A deputation escorted the king back to his 
palace. The queen, holding the Dauphin by the 
hand, came to meet them. 

" I share," said she to the deputation, " in all 
the king's sentiments. I join with heart and soul 
in all that his love for his people can prompt him 
to say or do. Behold my son ! I shall ever seek 
to remind him of the virtues of this best of fathers. 
I shall teach him, vsrhile he is still young, to respect 
public liberty and to observe the laws of his country. 
I hope that some day he will be their most staunch 
supporter." 

This scene, which ought to have produced 
excellent results, only irritated the factionists ; they 
excited the populace to commit fresh excesses. 
In these moments of alarm, the queen entirely 
forgot her own danger and thought only of her 
children. Her courage was put to the test on the 
night of April 13, 1790. The rebels talked of 
taking the palace by storm and uttered fearful 
threats against his Majesty. Several shots were 
fired. The king rose and hastened to the queen's 
apartment ; she was not there ; he then went into 
the Dauphin's room, where he found her clasping 
this beloved child to her heart. He said to her, 
" Madame, I have been looking for you : you have 
made me very anxious." 

" Sire !" replied the queen, " I was at my post." 
What a touching picture ! 

A little garden, enclosed within the walls of the 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 27 

palace grounds and situated at the end of the terrace 
by the side of the river, was given to the Dauphin. 
Several members of the garde nationale served as 
escort to the prince, and v^hen they v^ere not too 
numerous, he used to invite them to enter his little 
garden. One day, v^hen they happened to be more 
numerous than usual, he excused himself very 
prettily, saying, " I am very sorry, gentlemen, that 
my garden is so small, because it deprives me of 
the pleasure of inviting you." 

A company of young men had been formed in 
Paris under the title of " the regiment of the 
Dauphin." Many bourgeois hastened to put down 
their children's names. " I belonged to this little 
company," says M. Antoine, from whom we borrow 
this anecdote ; " we were allowed to drill in the 
presence of the young prince. On the occasion of 
our first visit, we found him in his garden sur- 
rounded by several gentlemen. ' Will you kindly 
consent to become the colonel of this regiment ? ' 
said one of them to him. 

" ' Yes,' replied the Dauphin, ' I love the 
grenadiers of my garden, but I should prefer to 
be at your head.' 

" ' That will mean, good-bye to your Mama's 
bouquets and flowers ! ' 

" ' Oh ! that won't prevent me taking care of 
my flowers. Many of these gentlemen tell me 
that they also possess little gardens : so if they 
love the queen as much as their colonel loves her, 



28 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Mama will have whole regiments of bouquets every 
day.' " 

" Our cheers," adds M. Antoine, " proved to 
him how dearly we loved his august parents." 

Whenever the Dauphin went to visit his little 
garden, he was ready to welcome any children who 
might wish to speak to him. He often gave money 
to those who declared that their parents were in 
distress. One day a woman entered the garden 
where he was attending to his plants and begged 
him to obtain a favour for her. " Ah ! Mon- 
seigneur," cried she, " if I could obtain it, I should 
be as happy as a queen ! " 

" Do you think so ? " answered the Dauphin, 
" as happy as a queen f I know one who does 
nothing but cry ! " 

And yet this unfortunate queen eagerly seized 
every opportunity to show the young prince to the 
French nation. On the fete of the Federation, 
July 14, 1 790, just as the king was raising his hand 
in order to pronounce the oath which had ever 
been engraved in his heart, and by which he pledged 
himself to seek the happiness of his people, the 
queen, who was seated in a gallery situated above 
the throne, took the Dauphin in her arms and 
presented him to the Assemblee ; the lovely child 
immediately lifted up his innocent hands as if to 
call down the blessings of heaven upon his father 
and upon all France. This deed, following the 
queen's gesture, aroused frantic applause. Cries of 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 29 

" Long live the queen ! Long live the Dauphin ! " 
were heard on all sides. M. Hue said, "One would 
have thought from these cries that France had once 
more begun to worship her rulers ! " 

The Federates from Dauphine were especially 
devoted to the Dauphin. The royal child, although 
only five years of age, knew how to appreciate 
their devotion. He looked as if he were proud to 
bear the name of a province so deeply penetrated 
with patriotic sentiments. 

Louis XVI, who had faithfully followed in the 
footsteps of the Dauphin, his father and first 
mentor, wished to be his son's first mentor. He 
himself instructed him in foreign languages and 
gave him lessons in history and geography, in which 
he was well versed. 

The queen was no less anxious that her children 
should possess, not only bodily and mental em- 
bellishments, but also those qualities of heart so 
necessary to persons destined to occupy a throne ; 
and, as if wishing to revenge herself for all the 
calumnious reports then in circulation about her, 
she hastened to distribute charity on every side. 
She profited by these occasions to awaken in the 
Dauphin's breast the same tender emotions which 
beat in her own ; and finally, she taught him to 
deprive himself of a portion of the sum devoted 
every month to his pleasures and to use it to succour 
the poor, thus finding his greatest happiness in 
depriving himself of some trifling bauble. One 



30 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

day, her Majesty took him to the FoundHng 
Hospital, and after having ordered what she con- 
sidered necessary for the inmates' comfort, she 
noticed in the young prince's countenance the pity 
awakened by this touching spectacle. " My son,*' 
said the queen to him, " all these poor children 
whom you see here are orphans abandoned by their 
parents. Do not forget this fact, but remember, 
whenever you can, to soften their cruel lot." What 
a happy fate France would have enjoyed under a 
prince thus carefully educated ! 

By such means, the queen cultivated in the 
Dauphin's heart the kindness and compassion 
which seem to belong to the Bourbons and which 
he already manifested on many occasions. He 
was even careful never to wound any one's feelings. 
One day, in a fit of absence of mind, he placed 
some marigolds {soucis'^) in one of the queen's 
posies ; having perceived them just as he was 
about to present the bouquet to her, he immediately 
tore them out, crying : " Ah, Mama ! you have 
got quite enough without these ! " 

The liveliness of the young prince often helped 
to turn his august mother's thoughts from her 
ever-present sorrows. 

M. Bertrand de MoUeville relates a scene 
witnessed by him : 

" While the queen was talking to me, the 

1 The French word souci has two significations — marigold, and 
care or anxiety. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 31 

little Dauphin, as beautiful as an angel, was 
amusing himself by singing and jumping about 
the room, brandishing a little wooden sword and 
shield in his hands. Some one came to fetch him 
to supper, whereupon he flew towards the door. 

" * What ! my son,' said the queen to him, 
' are you going away without making your bow 
to M. Bertrand ? ' 

" ' Oh, Mama,' cried the charming child, still 
continuing to jump, ' M. Bertrand is one of our 
friends. Good-evening, M. Bertrand ! ' And he 
rushed out of the room. 

" ' Isn't he 'a dear little boy ? " said the queen 
to me when he had gone. ' How happy he is ! ' 
she added, ' to be so young ! He does not feel 
our sorrows, and his mirth gladdens our hearts ! ' 

" Too deeply moved to make any reply," says 
M. de MoUeville, " I wiped my eyes in silence." 

Louis XVI, having been ill, proposed to profit 
by the fine weather and to go to Saint-Cloud, 
where he wished to perform his devotions and 
pass a part of the summer and autumn. As this 
journey coincided with Holy Week, the rebels 
made a pretext of the king's well-known devotion 
to the faith of his fathers, to arouse evil passions 
against him. It was reported that this journey 
had been planned to facilitate the escape of the 
royal family. On April i8, just as his Majesty 
was about to enter his carriage, a crowd of people 
rushed forward and tried to hinder his departure ; 



32 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the rioters even had the impudence to point their 
guns at his carriage. The most insolent speeches, 
the most abominable suggestions resounded in the 
king's ears. He drank the cup of bitterness to the 
very dregs. At last the king, after two hours of 
continual struggle, unwilling to set one portion of 
the garde nationale at odds against their companions, 
was forced to re-enter the palace, that is to say, his 
prison. 

This scene grieved the Dauphin, who much 
regretted that he was not going to Saint-Cloud, 
where he had expected to pass many happy hours. 
On returning to his study, he tried to forget his 
disappointment by reading. As chance would 
have it, he took up a book entitled, T^he Children's 
Friend^ by Berquin. He opened it and started 
with astonishment. The Abbe d'Avaux asked him 
what was the matter. " Guess, monsieur Vabbe, 
what title I read on opening my book ? 'Tis a 
story called, ' The Little Prisoner ! ' " 

The king soon felt obliged to beg the eccle- 
siastics who officiated in his chapel to leave him. 
The rebels finally declared that the king and the 
queen must go, on Easter Sunday, to the church 
of Saint-Germain TAuxerrois to hear mass said by 
a priest, an intruder who had dispossessed the 
venerable cure, only guilty of obedience to his 
vows. Madame Elisabeth, more fortunate, calm 
and determined, caring naught for the threatening 
placards directed against her person, repaired to 




LOUIS XYI, 

(1791.) 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 33 

the chapel of the palace, accompanied by Madame 
la duchesse de Serent, her lady of the bedchamber, 
who, faithful to her mistress, had hastened to 
rejoin her ; this princess then heard mass said by 
one of her chaplains. 

Louis XVI, weary of so many insults, which 
his patience only seemed to multiply, resolved to 
free himself from this painful state of bondage. 
He followed the example of one of his ancestors, 
Charles V, who, having been kept prisoner in 
Paris like himself, left the tyrant-ridden capital by 
stealth. But Charles, more fortunate than Louis, 
some time afterwards received a deputation from 
the repentant Parisians, who, overcome with re- 
morse, begged him to return to the capital. 

The king's departure for Montmedy took place 
during the night of June 20-21. Louis XVI 
and Madame Elisabeth first left on foot by the 
principal entrance to the palace ; the queen fol- 
lowed them at a quarter before twelve o'clock ; 
the Dauphin and Madame Royale, accompanied 
by the marquise de Tourzel, preceded them and 
waited for their Majesties during one hour on the 
place du Petit-Carrousel. 

The secret of their departure having been 
betrayed, the carriage containing our unfortunate 
sovereigns was stopped at Varennes by armed men 
who were lying in wait for it. The king, by 
order of the Assemblee, was brought back to Paris 
under escort. During the monarch's absence, the 

3 



34 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Comites had decreed that as soon as their Majesties 
arrived at the Tuileries^ a warden was to be appointed 
under the orders of the commander-in-chief of the 
Paris garde nationale to watch over, and to be re- 
sponsible for, the safety of his Majesty ; a special 
guardian was also to be given to the heir-apparent; 
the Assemblee later was to appoint a tutor for the 
young prince. This decree, containing several other 
provisions, was executed with the exception of the 
article concerning the nomination of a tutor for 
the Dauphin, a post which, we shall see, was for 
long to occupy the attention of the Assemblee 
nationale and of the Legislative} 

The details of the painful return to Paris of 
the king and the royal family are well known. An 
immense throng filled all the thoroughfares traversed 
by the procession. The queen, the Dauphin, 
Madame Royale, Madame Elisabeth, the marquise 
de Tourzel and Barnave were seated in the king's 
carriage. It is said that the calm courage displayed 
by the royal family made such an impression upon 
Barnave that, during the journey, he treated the 

^ AssemhUe legislative : an assembly composed of 745 members 
who, according to the rules of the Constitution, could not belong 
to the Assemblie nationale or constituante. This assembly lasted 
from October i, 1791, until September 21, 1792. During the 
first few months of its existence, it passed a decree condemning 
the Emigres and refractory priests — which decree the king refused 
to sanction. The legislative, badly seconded by Louis XVI and 
the ministers then in power, was finally obliged to give place to 
the Commune de Paris, which then took the reins of government 
into its own hands. — Translator's note, 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 35 

young prince with the greatest respect and 
kindness. 

The carriages entered through the garden. 
Several madmen wished to commit deeds of violence ; 
tht garde nationale restrained their fury. "As for me," 
said M. Hue, " I arrived at the carriage door just 
in time, and I held out my arms to receive my 
master's son. M. le Dauphin was accustomed to me 
as a sort of big playfellow, and hardly did he catch 
sight of me when his eyes filled with tears. Al- 
though I did my best to take the young prince in 
my arms, an officer of the garde nationale seized 
him, carried him into the palace, and placed him 
on a table in the cabinet du Conseii. I entered the 
apartment at the same moment. 

" The king, overcome with fatigue, retired to 
his own apartments, and his family imitated his 
example. Just then an officer of the garde nationale 
wished to seize M. le Dauphin for the second 
time ; the king protested. This time by his 
Majesty's orders, I took the young prince in my 
arms and carried him to his apartment, where I 
gave him in charge of Madame de Tourzel. 
Hardly was M. le Dauphin in bed," adds M. Hue, 
" when he called me. He wanted to tell me all about 
his journey. ' As soon as we had reached Varennes,' 
said he to me, 'they sent us back again — I don't 
know why, do you ? ' As some of the officers of the 
garde nationale were in the apartment, I represented 
to M. le Dauphin the necessity of mentioning 



36 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

his journey to no one. Since that day he never 
allowed himself to speak of it, at least not in the 
presence of those whom he had reason to suspect. 
But on rising the next day, M. le Dauphin told 
me, in the presence of the guards placed in his 
chamber by M. de La Fayette's orders, that he had 
had a horrible dream, that he had dreamt that he 
was surrounded by tigers and other wild beasts who 
were trying to devour him. The guards looked 
at each other but dared not utter a word. These 
same guards, however, treated him with kindness 
during all the time that they were in attendance 
upon him." 

This dream, alas ! was all too quickly realized. 

After their return from Varennes, the royal 
family found themselves virtually captives in the 
hands of the tyrants. It was not until several 
weeks had elapsed that the queen obtained permis- 
sion to walk with the Dauphin in the Tuikries 
gardens. The Dauphin often turned his steps 
towards the gallery of the Louvre adjoining the 
palace. He loved to question the artists, and he 
always listened to their replies with great attention. 
The latter admired the young prince's beauty, his 
noble carriage and his charming little speeches. 
He particularly enjoyed trying to guess, with the 
aid of knowledge gleaned during his lessons in 
mythology and history, the subjects represented by 
the pictures and statues. One day the Abbe d'Avaux 
asked him the meaning of one of these paintings. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 37 

" I think that those persons are Pyramus and 
Thisbe ; there is a blood-stained veil, but I can't 
see any lioness." The celebrated Vien, who hap- 
pened at that moment to be standing near the 
Dauphin, said that several artists had already made 
the same remark. 

At last on September 3, the numerous guards 
by whom the royal family were surrounded were 
withdrawn, because on the morrow the constitu- 
tional act, but lately completed, was to be presented 
to the king for his acceptance. The Assemblee 
having, in the preceding month of July, suppressed 
all orders of knighthood, all decorations and marks 
of distinction, now decreed that the king and the 
Dauphin (as they then called the heir to the 
throne) should alone wear the blue ribbon of the 
Ordre du Saint-Esprit.'^ 

On September 14, his Majesty repaired to 
the Assemblee and declared his willingness to accept 
the new Constitution. During the president's 
speech the crowd perceived the queen, the Dauphin 
and Madame Royale seated in a box. The 
applause bestowed upon the king was, upon several 
occasions, directed towards the queen and the heir 
to the throne. The names of the august family 
were repeated on all sides. The hall re-echoed 
with cries of joy and love inspired by their pre- 
sence as well as by the hope of a happier future. 

During the captivity of the king and queen, 
^ See note, page 18. 



38 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the Abbe d'Avaux had been unable to give any 
lessons to his pupil. One day, when the abbe had 
begun to resume them in the queen's presence, the 
young prince wished to commence with his gram- 
mar lesson. " Gladly ! " answered his teacher ; 
" your last lesson, if I remember rightly, was upon 
the three degrees of comparison : the positive, the 
comparative and the superlative. But you will 
have forgotten everything." 

" You are mistaken," replied the Dauphin, " I 
will prove it to you. Listen : the positive is when 
I say, 'My abbe is a kind abbe^ ; the comparative is 
when I say, 'My abbe is kinder than another abbe'' \ 
the superlative," continued he, looking at the 
queen, " is when I say, ' Mama is the kindest and 
most amiable of all Mamas.' " 

The queen, unable to restrain her tears, took 
her son in her arms and pressed him to her heart. 

The young prince, who had sometimes heard 
the queen speak Italian, asked to be taught that 
language. He showed such aptitude that his 
teacher was enabled, in a very short time, to let 
him read T'elemachus in the original and converse 
with his august mother. 

Nevertheless this study did not prevent him 
from making rapid progress in the Latin tongue. 
We have seen several of his early translations and 
exercises : at first each of the latter only consisted 
of very short sentences. We noticed the following : 
" True friends are useful to princes. I know a 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 39 

prince who easily flies into a passion; Flatterers 
are very dangerous to princes." During these 
lessons, the tutor used to explain briefly the 
meaning of the theme or apply it to recent 
events. 

At seven years of age, the august child v^as 
well versed in arithmetic ; he was familiar both 
with the elements of geometry and geography. 
The celebrated Abbe Grenet, professor at the 
Universite de Paris, had invented a hollow globe, 
lit by a lantern which was placed inside ; it was 
on this globe that the Dauphin took his geography 
lessons. 

During the year following the acceptance of 
the Constitution, the Dauphin continued to study 
with the same avidity with which he joined in the 
games suitable to his age ; but, eager for in- 
struction, he often asked his tutor as a reward to 
be allowed to prolong the hours devoted to study. 

The Dauphin had just attained the age of seven 
years. At that age, according to a Court custom, 
the royal child had to be confided to the care of a 
governor. The Assemblee Constituante had en- 
deavoured, as we have already seen, to deprive the 
king of the right to choose the person to whom the 
education of the heir to the throne was to be en- 
trusted. The leaders of the Assemblee legislative 
wished to keep the whole affair in their own hands 
and to choose, as governor to the son of the royal 
house of France, some one whose opinions would 



40 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

coincide with their own interests. Sieyes, Con- 
dorcet and Petion were the most popular candidates 
for this post. Several individuals, many of whom 
were utterly unknown to fame and even vicious 
and untrustworthy persons, likewise offered their 
services. The publicity given to this ridiculous 
list of candidates seems to have forced the AssembUe 
to renounce its no less ridiculous claim. On April 
1 8, 1792, a message from the king, read by 
Duranthon, keeper of the seals, in the presence of 
the Corps legislative^ announced that his Majesty 
had nominated the chevalier de Fleurieu as 
governor to the Dauphin. This unexpected news 
disconcerted the leaders of the AssembUe. Later 
on, we shall see how much truth is contained in an 
anecdote recently published, in which it is stated 
that the above-mentioned important post had been 
promised by the king to a man who later earned 
for himself an unfortunate celebrity. The king and 
queen, however, still continued to superintend the 
Dauphin's?education ; not content with giving their 
advice, they themselves set him an example of the 
instability of fortune and of human grandeur. This, 
no doubt, was their only pleasure, the only allevia- 
tion to their anxieties amid the incessant riots and 
insurrections which preceded the horrible events of 
June 20. 

This execrable day proved the sovereignty of the 
populace in all its hideous, insolent reality. The 
events of that day were directed against Louis XVI, 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 41 

who, overwhelmed by the outrages committed on 
his sacred person, seemed for a moment to cease 
to be a king, without, however, ceasing, even for a 
minute, to exhibit all the noble, imposing and 
celestial qualities common to royalty. 

While the rebels were taking possession of his 
Majesty's apartment, the queen, seated in her own 
chamber, held her children in her arms and bathed 
them with her tears. Having learnt from M. 
d'Aubier, one of the king's gentlemen-in-waiting, 
the danger which threatened his Majesty, she 
cried, " My duty is to die by the king's side." 
Several persons, who were standing close by, 
represented to her that her devotion would be 
useless, that she would be murdered before she 
could reach the king's apartment ; that, though 
she was a wife, she was also a mother; and that 
her children were in such a state of terror that she 
could not possibly leave them. The queen was 
about to yield to their entreaties, when a sudden 
burst of angry voices made her rush towards the 
door, crying to M. Hue, " Save my son ! " 

" At these words," says that historian, " I took 
the august child and carried him to Madame 
Royale's apartment, sufficiently far removed to 
prevent him from hearing the tumult. The young 
prince, sobbing, asked what the king and queen 
were doing. It was difficult for me to appear un- 
concerned. Happily the princesse de Tarente, one 
of the queen's ladies-in-waiting, now appeared and 



42 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

announced that her Majesty had at last retired to 
her son's apartment. I immediately carried the 
Dauphin there. Hardly had Madame de Tourzel 
given him into the queen's arms, when reiterated 
blows were heard upon the door of the adjoining 
room. At this noise I rushed towards a corridor 
leading from the room in which the queen was 
sitting to the king's bedroom. I opened the door, 
the queen and her suite took refuge down this 
passage, the entrance to which was so cleverly 
hidden by the wainscoting that no one could have 
suspected its existence. Hordes of rebels now 
pressed forward into the room. In one moment 
their hatchets demolished the panelling round the 
secret door ; but although the wall was completely 
stripped, they did not find the entrance to the 
secret passage. Except for this mistake, the 
queen's last refuge would have been most certainly 
discovered. 

" All communication between the king and 
queen being interrupted, they were for some time 
unable to learn anything of their respective fates. 
The king, utterly at the mercy of the insolent 
populace, was forced to allow them to place upon 
his head the infamous red cap, the head-dress and 
rallying sign of the Jacobins. 

" At last Bligny, one of the king's valets, escaped 
from the apartment and went to fetch help, which 
he found in ^ the persons of the devoted battalion of 
the Filles-Saint-Thomas, ever steadfast in their 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 43 

fidelity to their sovereigns. Already the grenadiers 
of this battalion were flying, under the command of 
M. de Boscary de Villeplaine, to the defence of 
the royal family. They took possession of the 
cabinet du Conseil and at last succeeded in quelling 
the rebels. The people asked to see the queen. 
Her Majesty appeared holding her children by the 
hand and surrounded by the above-named persons 
who, during the crisis, had never left her. The 
table in the king's study served as a barrier to keep 
the multitude from pressing round the queen. The 
latter stood behind this table, having on her right 
hand the Dauphin and on her left the princess, her 
daughter, and surrounded by several members of the 
garde nathnale, watched the rebels file past her. . . . 

"To crown their insolence, they threw upon 
the table the red cap, demanding that this disgusting 
h^ad-dress should soil the head of the Dauphin. 
The queen having signed to me to yield to the 
wishes of the multitude, I obeyed ; but M. de 
Montjourdain, one of the officers of the battalion, 
together with several commanders and members of 
tht garde nationale, remarked that, on account of the 
great heat, the young prince could not bear the 
weight of such a heavy cap upon his head, so I took 
it off^ 

" Night was falling : it was more than time to 
put an end to this long agony which had already 
lasted five hours. The king, worn out by heat and 
fatigue, was brought back to the cabinet du Conseil 



44 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

by a deputation from the Assemblee (who had finally 
decided to come to the king's aid) and by the 
garde nationale. He passed from this apartment 
into his bedroom, where he was joined by the royal 
family. There he was able to give way to his 
sorrow ; he clasped the queen, his children, and 
Madame Elisabeth to his heart. What an affecting 
scene ! 

" Several deputies had crowded round the 
Dauphin eager to ascertain his mental capacities 
and to see how much he really knew. They 
questioned him upon divers subjects, among other 
things upon geography and the recent division of 
France into departments and districts. The young 
prince's apposite replies astonished his interlocutors. 

" Amid all the horrible scenes enacted on that 
day, the Dauphin, like Louis XVI, preserved that 
calm exterior inseparable from innocence, and stood 
motionless by the queen's side, gazing at the 
brigands who were far more agitated than their 
august victims. 

" On the morrow the factionists tried to excite 
the populace, as they had done on the previous 
evening, by reminding them that this was the 
anniversary of the monarch's flight and that they 
must now make him pay for his desertion. The 
drums beat to arms ; the queen immediately 
hastened to join her son, who, when he saw her, 
asked ingenuously, ' Mama, isn't yesterday over 
yet ? ' No, unhappy prince, it was not over ; 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 45 

that horrible day was only beginning, that horrible 
day when you and your unfortunate family were to 
be shut up in a prison only to be exchanged for the 
tomb." 

On July 14, the ^Qcond fete of the Federation, 
the king, followed by the Dauphin wearing the 
uniform of the garde nationale, and accompanied 
by the royal family, repaired to the ^cole militaire. 
An ordinary carpet indicated the place reserved for 
them. The effects of June 20 were noticeable 
on every side, everything showed what a change 
had been wrought in the hearts of the people by the 
demagogues' manoeuvres : hardly a cheer was 
raised ! Soon the federates finished their task of 
perverting the mind of the capital, which honest 
folk, always timid and fearful, hastened to desert 
and to abandon to the anarchists. Songs full of 
insolent and scandalous allusions to the king and 
queen mingled with threats against the royal family. 
Insurrections and riots became more frequent ; at 
last, on August 3, Petion appeared at the bar of 
the Assemblee and demanded the dethronement of 
Louis XVI. 

In dethroning the king, this insolent mayor and 
the men of his party wished to give the crown to 
the Dauphin, in whose name they intended to 
govern by means of a Conseil de regence chosen by 
themselves. Petion was convinced that he would 
be chosen as regent or chief of the Conseil de regence. 
" I can see," said he in the very hall of the 



46 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Assemblee after having read the famous petition, 
" I can see that the regency will devolve to me ; 
I am powerless to prevent it from so doing." 
Petion's conduct caused the king great pain. " If 
my person is distasteful to them," he humbly said, 
" I am willing to abdicate." 

It is probable that, according to M. Hue, if the 
king had consulted only his own inclinations, he 
would have gladly consummated the sacrifice, 
but he feared, by abdicating, to compromise the 
Dauphin's rights and to bring down even greater 
evils upon his family and upon his kingdom. 

Of the fearful catastrophe of August lo, we 
will only retrace those circumstances directly con- 
nected with our subject. During that horrible 
night, the queen, more fearful for the safety of the 
king and of her children than for her own person, 
continually passed to and fro between the apart- 
ments of the king and the other members of her 
family, trying to calm and reassure them. Between 
four and five o^ clock in the morning, while the 
queen and Madame Elisabeth were in the cabinet 
de Conseil^ M. de la Chenaye, one of the leaders of 
the band, entered. " To-day," cried he to the two 
princesses, " to-day will be your last day on earth. 
The people have got the upper hand. What 
bloodshed there will be ! " 

" Sir," replied the queen, " save the king, save 
my children ! " 

The queen immediately hastened to the 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 47 

Dauphin's room. The young prince awoke ; 
his smiles and kisses somewhat softened his 
mother's affliction. " Mama," said the Dauphin, 
kissing the queen's hands, " why should they hurt 
Papa ? He is so kind ! " 

We know that the king, by Roederer's per- 
fidious advice, had consented, notwithstanding his 
reluctance, to take shelter in the Assemblee, and to 
submit, together with the queen, in order to avoid 
a greater crime, to humiliations more bitter than 
death itself. The unfortunate sovereigns started at 
nine o'clock in the morning ; they traversed several 
rooms in which many true Frenchmen and faithful 
nobles were waiting to defend their Majesties. 
With streaming eyes, trembling for the danger 
which threatened their sovereigns, the courtiers 
gathered round the king, and begged to be allowed 
to follow him and the royal family. 

" You will cause the king's death ! " said 
Rcederer. 

" Remain here," commanded his Majesty. 

"We shall soon return," added the queen, 
trying to reassure them. 

Even the Dauphin, in all his youthful charm 
and beauty, tried his powers of persuasion upon 
his subjects and his devoted courtiers. He 
went up to one of them, M. de Saint-Priest by 
name, and said, "Stay here. Papa and Mama 
command you to stay here, and I beg you to 
do so ! " 



48 THE KING WHO NEVER KEIGNED 

Precautions were immediately taken in order 
to protect, by a military escort, the royal family 
during their journey from the palace to the 
AssembUe nationale. The members of the Par- 
liament, with Rcederer at their head, formed a 
circle round the king, the queen and the royal 
family. The king walked alone somewhat in 
advance ; the queen held the Dauphin by his 
left hand while Madame de Tourzel held his 
right hand. Then came Madame Royale and 
Madame Elisabeth. A few faithful servants and 
an escort formed of the garde nationale and several 
Suisses completed this mournful procession. 

The king, accompanied by the infuriated 
populace, reached the salle of the AssembUe with 
great difficulty and took up his position by the 
president's side, while the queen and the royal 
family sat down in the ministers' benches. A 
horrible-looking man, wearing a sapper's uniform, 
named Rocher, who had been abusing the king in 
the coarsest terms, snatched the Dauphin from the 
queen's arms and carried him to the bureau. A 
few minutes later, the king and his family were 
taken to a closet belonging to the editor of a 
newspaper entitled the Logographe. The prin- 
cesse de Lamballe and the marquise de Tourzel 
accompanied them. 

The heat in this closet, which was only eight 
feet square by ten feet high, was suffocating. This 
and many other horrors endured by the royal family 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 49 

constituted one of the cruellest trials ever borne by- 
human creatures. 

During this disastrous day, the anarchists caused 
the Assemblee to declare, in their Majesties' very 
presence, the convocation of a Convention nationale ^ 

1 Convention nationale : a political assembly which succeeded to 
the Assemblee legislative and lasted from September 21, 1792, 
until October 26, 1795. This assembly had been convoked 
after the insurrection of August 10, 1792, and the fall of Louis 
XVI. It proclaimed, on the occasion of its first meeting, the 
Republic, and impeached the king, who was guillotined January 
21, 1795. It soon saw itself threatened by a coalition of all the 
sovereigns in Europe ; this event was very nearly fatal to France. 

The Convention was composed of the Girondins^ moderate 
republicans, and the Montagnards^ who professed more advanced 
opinions. This assembly instituted the Tribunal revolutionnaire 
and the Comites de S a lut public et Surete generale. 

The Montagnards having got the upper hand, the Girondins 
were forced to fly into the provinces, where many of them perished 
by the guillotine. At the same time the frontiers of France were 
invaded by Austrian, Prussian, Spanish and Piemontais troops. 
The Convention immediately decreed that steps should be taken to 
repulse the invaders, and passed sentence of death upon the emigres 
who, by their perfidious treachery, had caused such a state of 
affairs. 

The Reign of Terror was now proclaimed. Owing to the 
bravery of the French soldiers under Carnot's leadership, France 
once more beheld her frontiers free from any imminent danger, 
and was even able to take the offensive. 

Unfortunately, further dissensions among the members of the 
Convention hastened the end of this assembly, which, although it 
lasted until the 4th hrumaire^ an III (October 26, 1795), 
virtually ended with the fall of Robespierre (July 28, 1794). 

Among the valuable institutions which France owes to the 
Convention we may mention the Institute Ecole polytechnique^ Ecole 
normale superieure^ Conservatoire des arts et metiers^ JJnit^ des Poids 
et mesures, etc. — Translator's note. 
4 



50 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

and the temporary cessation of the king's authority ; 
he and his family were to remain as hostages ; a 
project was to be presented that same day for the 
nomination of a governor for the royal prince, 
together with other equally insulting proposals 
which, with the exception of the three first, were 
never put into execution. As to the precautions 
taken to insure the safety of the royal family and 
the protection of their habitations, all these were 
scandalously neglected. 

Condorcet, whom the revolutionists had ap- 
pointed as governor to the Dauphin, hastened to 
draw up a fallacious address in which the Assemblee 
informed Europe of the strange resolutions made 
by its members and invited the nation to form a 
Convention nationale and thus to decide the fate of 
France. 

It was not until one o'clock in the morning 
that the king was allowed to leave the closet in 
which he had spent sixteen horrible hours. No 
one had been able to obtain any nourishment; a 
little fruit and some eau de groseilles supplied by a 
neighbouring cafe was all they could procure. 

Overcome with heat, fatigue and want of sleep, 
the Dauphin dozed in his mother's arms ; it was 
a touching sight to behold that innocent creature 
surrounded by noisy regicides. 

During the day they had prepared a lodging 
belonging to the architect of the salle des seances ; 
the royal family were conducted thither. This 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 51 

lodging formed part of the former Convent des 
Feuillants ; it consisted of four cells communicating 
with each other. The first of these served as an 
anteroom ; the king slept in the second ; the third 
was occupied by the queen and Madame Royale, 
while the fourth was for the Dauphin and Madame 
de Tourzel ; lastly, Madame Elisabeth and the 
princesse de Lamballe shared, in the same corridor, 
an apartment separated from these four rooms ; 
numerous soldiers guarded the doors. 

The palace having been pillaged, the members 
of the royal family found themselves without linen 
or food. The duchess of Sutherland, wife of the 
English ambassador at the Court of France, having 
a son of the same age as the Dauphin, sent the 
young prince all he could want in the way of 
clothing. 

On August 13, the day fixed for the king's 
removal to the Temple, the procession started ofF 
at five o'clock in the afternoon. The king, the 
queen, the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame 
Elisabeth, the princesse de Lamballe, the marquise 
de Tourzel and Mile. Tourzel her daughter, took 
their places in the first carriage. They were 
escorted by a huge multitude formed of cannibals, 
furies and men armed with divers weapons. Dur- 
ing this mournful journey, threats and oaths were 
heard on all sides. The royal family, overwhelmed 
with grief, did not reach the Temple until nightfall. 

On their arrival, the illustrious victims were 



52 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

first taken to that part of the Temple called the 
palace: there they found themselves bereft of 
every comfort. There was not a single kind of 
privation which the tyrants did not inflict upon 
them ; the state of the necessary objects furnished 
to the royal family was such that M. Hue was 
obliged to use torn sheets for the Dauphin's bed. 
While the barbarians of the Commune^ were pre- 
paring to convert the principal tower, not only 
into a prison, but into the most frightful abode 
imaginable, the king and the royal family con- 
tinued to inhabit the palace during the daytime; 
at night their Majesties, together with their attend- 
ants, were shut up in the small tower. 

Louis XVI slept on the second floor. The 
queen and Madame Royale occupied a room on 
the first floor ; the Dauphin, Madame de Tourzel, 

1 Commune de Paris : this commune, which was organized 
after the taking of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) and took the 
place of the former town-council, held its meetings at the Hotel 
de Ville. By the decree of May 21, 1790, the Com?nune de 
Paris was divided into 48 sections with a mayor at the head of 
affairs, together with 16 guardians, a municipal council composed 
of 32 members, a general council of 96 notables, a procurator- 
syndic and two substitutes. The mayor Bailly, having given 
offence by his moderation and secret sympathy for monarchy, was 
replaced in 1791 by Potion. The Commune revolutionnaire was 
established after the insurrection of August 10, 1792, and quickly 
became a very powerful institution. The real leaders of the 
Commune^ Robespierre, Danton, Billaud-Varennes, etc., organized 
the Comiti de Surveillance, of which Sergent and Panis were two of 
the most active agents. The Commune lasted until the fall of 
Robespierre, July 27, 1794. — Translator's note. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 53 

his governess, and Madame Bazire, the prince's 
waiting-woman, were lodged in a side room, while 
the princesse de Lamballe slept in a sort of ante- 
room. Opposite the king's chamber a room, 
originally intended for a kitchen and still contain- 
ing the necessary cooking utensils, served as a 
lodging for Madame EHsabeth and Mile, de 
Tourzel. 

During the night of August 19-20, two 
municipal officers came, by order of the Commune^ 
to the tower and removed the princesse de Lam- 
balle, the marquise de Tourzel and Mile. Pauline, 
her daughter. The queen, her children and 
Madame Elisabeth, overwhelmed with horror of 
the present and with fears for the future, held 
these faithful friends in their arms for several 
minutes ; forced at last to separate, they bade each 
other a sorrowful farewell. 

MM. Hue and Chamilly, together with other 
persons in the service of the royal family, were 
likewise removed from the Temple. A few days 
later, however, M. Hue was brought back to wait 
upon the king. Clery, whom the king wished 
to wait upon the Dauphin, in whose service he 
had been for some years, was likewise taken into 
the tower on that same night. 

Louis XVI not only found consolation in 
exercising his religious duties, but he also found 
much pleasure in superintending his son's educa- 
tion. The hours devoted to study, recreation and 



54 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

repasts were carefully regulated. The king usually 
arose about six o'clock, when his valet used to go 
to the queen's chamber, where he proceeded to 
dress the prince. 

At nine o'clock the queen, her children and 
Madame Elisabeth went up-stairs to breakfast in 
the king's room. 

At ten o'clock the king descended to the 
queen's apartment, where he spent the rest of the 
day. He then gave his son instruction in the 
Latin tongue, and in history and geography. The 
queen, for her part, occupied herself with Madame 
Roy ale's education. 

At one o'clock, when the weather was fine, 
the royal family used to go into the garden. 
During the walk, the young prince would play 
at ball or quoits, run races or indulge in some 
other game suitable to his age. The prisoners 
were not allowed to walk in the garden during 
Sanson's absence. The Dauphin, accustomed to 
fresh air and plenty of exercise, suffered much 
from this privation. 

At two o'clock the whole family went up into 
the tower for dinner. After this repast, they 
repaired to the queen's chamber, where their 
Majesties played a game of backgammon or 
piquet; this was the Dauphin and Madame Royale's 
playhour. Their games were a source of sweet 
consolation to the king and queen. 

At four o'clock the king used to take a short 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 55 

rest, while the princesses sat round him read- 
ing. Perfect silence always reigned during his 
slumbers. . . . 

As soon as the king awoke, Clery gave the 
young prince writing and arithmetic lessons. He 
then took him to Madame Elisabeth's room, 
where he played either at ball or at battledore 
and shuttlecock. 

At nightfall the royal family would gather 
round the table while the queen and Madame 
Elisabeth by turns read aloud some historical work 
or a favourite book. This pastime usually lasted 
until eight o'clock. 

The Dauphin's supper was then served in the 
presence of the royal family. The king, in order 
to amuse his children, used to make them guess 
riddles chosen from back numbers of the Mercure 
de France. 

The Dauphin was then put to bed. The 
queen or Madame Elisabeth always sat by the 
Dauphin's bedside while the king was supping. 
Having finished his repast, his Majesty immedi- 
ately repaired to his son's room. After receiving 
his children's kisses and giving his hand to the 
queen and Madame Elisabeth as a sign of farewell, 
the king retired for the night. 

The princesses then occupied themselves with 
their tapestry-work. The queen and Madame 
Royale were often obliged to leave this pleasant 
employment in order to mend their own clothes, 



56 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

and those of the king and the Dauphin. Madame 
Elisabeth, on several occasions, was forced to 
spend part of the night in repairing his Majesty's 
garments. 

Shortly after the king's entry into the Temple, 
a municipal officer, formerly master of a Parisian 
boarding-school, now commissary to the Commune^ 
gave M. Hue a note in which he asked to be 
nominated tutor to the Dauphin, and begged the 
faithful servitor to speak to the king in his favour. 
His Majesty happening to appear just at that 
moment, Thomas (for that was the petitioner's 
name) swore fidelity to the king's cause, and 
expressed his indignation at the daily insults 
showered upon his Majesty's head by several of 
his unworthy colleagues. " I should demean my- 
self," said the king, " if I appeared to feel their 
treatment. If God ever allows me to resume the 
reins of government, they will see that I know 
how to forgive." The municipal officer seized 
this opportunity to produce his petition. " For 
the present," replied the king, " I am quite 
competent to continue my son's education." 

The Dauphin was seven and a half years old 
when he was first shut up in the Temple. In 
order to make him familiar with our poetry, the 
king taught his son to recite numerous passages 
from Corneille and Racine. He also showed him 
how to draw maps to help him in his geography 
lessons. The prince's precocious mind eagerly 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 57 

responded to the king's loving care. Clery declares 
that his memory was so wonderful that he could 
indicate the departments, districts, towns and rivers 
on a map covered by a sheet of paper. M. Hue 
explains his Majesty's method of teaching geo- 
graphy ; the king first marked on a sheet of 
parchment the boundaries of the different depart- 
ments and the position of the mountains, rivers 
and streams ; the Dauphin then added the names. 
This was how the king taught his son the new 
geography of France. 

The Temple library was not rich in educational 
works. The king doubtless regretted the valuable 
books upon geography and chronology, and especi- 
ally the herbarium which M. de la Borde, formerly 
head valet to Louis XV, had delighted in preparing 
for the education and amusement of the Dauphin. 
This herbarium would have served not only to 
instruct the Dauphin, but it would have afforded 
many a pleasant hour to the royal family. These 
valuable objects had been destroyed or stolen from 
one of the royal apartments in the palace during 
the events of August lo. 

One day the Dauphin, while receiving his 
Latin lesson, mispronounced rather a difficult 
word ; the king did not scold him. One of the 
commissaries then present had the impudence to 
remark in a rough tone to his Majesty, " You 
ought to teach that child to pronounce better than 
that ; at the rate things are going on, he will 



58 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

probably have to speak on more than one occasion 
in public." 

" You are quite right," replied the king gently ; 
" but he is very young, and I think we ought 
to wait until time and habit have loosened his 
tongue." 

They were obliged to discontinue the arith- 
metic lessons. A municipal guard, having noticed 
that the royal pupil was learning the multiplication 
tables, declared that he was being taught to speak 
and write in ciphers. The Conseil general de la 
Commune^ upon this man's denunciation, forbade 
all instruction in arithmetic. 

The municipal officers were so touchy upon 
this subject that when, on September 2, M. Hue 
was removed for the second time from the tower 
of the Temple, one of the chief crimes imputed 
to him by the Conseil general de la Commune was 
that he had employed hieroglyphics in order to 
facilitate correspondence between the king and 
queen. These characters, as M. Hue explained, 
were simply a book of arithmetic tables which he 
was in the habit of placing every evening upon 
the Dauphin's bed before retiring to rest, so that 
the young prince might prepare for the king's 
lesson before taking his first breakfast. 

On September 3, Mathieu repaired to the 
Temple. He cried to the king in an angry tone, 
" They are beating to arms, the tocsin has been 
rung ; the enemy are at Verdun. We shall all 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 59 

perish, but you shall be the first to die." The king 
listened with the greatest calmness. The terrified 
Dauphin burst into tears and ran into the next 
room ; the queen and Madame Royale could with 
difficulty console him : he thought that his august 
father had fallen a victim to the anger of the 
infuriated municipal officer. 

That same day, another commissary appeared 
uttering horrid threats ; he also said, " If the 
enemy approach, the royal family must perish ; I 
pity the Dauphin, but as he is the son of a tyrant 
he, also, must perish." 

Clery describes the tortures inflicted upon 
Louis XVI by the horrible Rocher, now turnkey 
in the Temple ; we quote the following anecdote 
from his memoirs : 

" One day, during supper, numerous cries were 
heard, ' To arms ! to arms ! ' The municipal 
guards and the gaolers thought that the enemy had 
arrived. The horrible Rocher, with blazing eyes, 
grasped his sword and cried to the king, * If they 
come, I shall kill you ! ' This alarm had been 
caused by the arrival of several patrols whose 
commanders had mistaken the password." 

However, the horror of the persecutions endured 
by the royal family was sometimes softened by marks 
of fidelity and compassion. One of the municipal 
officers on guard for the first time in the Temple, 
entered just as Louis XVI was giving a geography 
lesson to his son. The Dauphin, on being asked 



60 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

in what part of the world Luneville was situated, 
replied with a smile, "In Asia/' The commissary 
noticed the mistake and said to the young prince, 
" What ! don't you know where your ancestors 
reigned ? " The king was delighted with this 
remark. The queen began to converse in a low 
tone with the commissary; she concluded by saying, 
" Our misfortunes would be easier to bear if your 
colleagues resembled you." 

Although the members of the royal family were 
permitted to walk in the garden, their pleasure 
often became a veritable torture owing to the 
insults showered upon them by the horrible gaolers 
of the Temple. The king and queen might have 
escaped this humiliation by remaining in the tower, 
but their beloved children needed fresh air. During 
these few minutes of liberty, they loved to watch 
the innocent gaiety so natural to children of tender 
years, so strangely contrasting with this melancholy 
spot. For their children's sake, their parents daily 
endured, without complaining, the cruellest insults. 

This brief hour of recreation afforded another 
touching spectacle to the royal family. A number 
of faithful subjects, by placing themselves at the 
windows of the houses situated near the Temple, 
hastened to profit by these few moments in order 
to behold their king and queen ; it was impossible 
to mistake their meaning and their wishes. Clery, 
on one occasion, thought that he had recognized 
the marquise de Tourzel ; her marked desire not to 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 61 

lose sight of the young prince whenever he wan- 
dered any distance from his august parents caused 
him to believe that he had guessed aright. He 
mentioned this observation to Madame Elisabeth. 
On hearing Madame de Tourzel's name, the 
princess, who thought that the marquise had 
perished among the victims of September 2, 
could not restrain her tears. " What ! " cried she, 
" is she still alive .? " 

Among the persons who came every day to the 
vicinity of the Temple in order to catch a glimpse 
of the royal family, we must also mention M. Hue, 
who, after having spent nearly a fortnight in the 
dungeons of the Commune in daily expectation of 
death, had been liberated. Longing to re-enter the 
Temple, not only did he apply to Petion, but he 
determined to see Chaumette, at that time pro- 
curator-syndic to the Commune; he received abetter 
reception than he had dared to expect. This vain 
man, who firmly believed that he had been chosen 
by Providence to govern France, made some grave 
confessions to M. Hue concerning the treachery of 
many persons in the king's service who, in reward 
for their information, received daily sums of one or 
more louis payable in gold. In referring to the 
royal family, Chaumette displayed some interest in 
the Dauphin's fate. " I want," said he, " to give 
him a good education ; I shall take him away from 
his family, so that he may forget his exalted rank. 
As to the king, he will perish. The king loves 



62 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

you. ..." At these words M. Hue could not 
restrain his tears. Notwithstanding this courteous 
reception, Chaumette turned a deaf ear to the 
faithful servitor's request. 

On September 29, while the king was 
preparing after supper to leave the queen's apart- 
ment in order to retire to his own, six municipal 
ojEEcers who, that very morning, had confiscated 
all his Majesty's pens, ink, paper, pencils, etc., 
appeared and read an order to him stating that he 
was to be transferred to the principal tower of the 
Temple. Although prepared for this event, the 
king was deeply grieved. The queen, the Dauphin, 
Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth sought to 
guess from the expression upon the commissaries' 
faces the real meaning of this sudden change of 
residence. The king bade farewell to his terror- 
stricken family ; this separation, harbinger of other 
misfortunes, constituted one of the cruellest moments 
which their Majesties had yet passed in the Temple. 

On the morrow, Clery having followed the 
king to his new prison, obtained permission to 
fetch some books from the queen's chamber ; he 
found the august family overwhelmed with despair. 
Tears glistened in every eye; sighs and groans were 
heard on all sides. Their cries were not utterly 
useless ; the Cerberus in charge of the weeping 
family allowed them to meet that day for dinner. 

This particular order was never mentioned 
again. The royal family continued to meet at 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 63 

meal-time, as well as during their walks, and the 
king was allowed to pursue his son's education 
uninterrupted. 

The queen anxiously awaited the hour when 
she would be able to inhabit the apartment then 
being prepared for her in the principal tower. 
But this arrangement did not please the guards, 
for they envied her one of her sweetest consola- 
tions, that of having her son by her side ; they 
envied her for being able to take care of him, to 
find in his kisses a solace for her sorrows ; they 
asked, and obtained, permission from the Conseil 
general de la Commune to deprive her of the 
Dauphin, whom they restored to the king. This 
separation took place at the end of October ; the 
queen had received no warning ; we may imagine 
her terrible grief. 

The king was now lodged in the principal 
tower, the royal family's new abode ; a bed was 
placed for the Dauphin in his Majesty's room, 
which was on the second floor. The queen, 
Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth occupied 
the third floor.^ 

1 The queen's apartment occupied the third floor of the 
principal tower. As it consisted, like the other floors, of one big 
room, it had been divided, by wooden partitions and imitation 
canvas ceilings, into four small rooms. On entering an anteroom 
one saw three doors leading to three different rooms. Opposite 
to the entrance was the queen's room with Madame Royale's bed 
in one corner ; the window, grated and screened by a shutter 
through which one could only see the sky, looked towards the rue 



64 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Since their Majesties had been once more 
united in the tower, the hours given to repasts, 

du Temple. From Madame Elisabeth's window one could see 
the rue de la Corderie ; the third room, looking in the rue de 
Beaujolais, was occupied by the woman Tison. In the anteroom, 
the walls of which were covered with a paper resembling freestone, 
were some chairs and a walnut-wood table, together with a couch 
for the use of any member of the Commune on duty on the "women's 
floor." The paper in Marie Antoinette's room was adorned 
with green and red disks. The furniture consisted of a four-poster 
with green damask curtains, a coverlet, three mattresses, including 
a hair mattress, a bolster and a quilt of Marseilles work, a mahogany 
chest of drawers with a marble top and a toilet mirror, a sofa with 
two cushions, a large mahogany folding-screen and two tables de 
nuit. Madame Royale's bed consisted of a bedstead with head 
and foot boards, three mattresses, a bolster, and two cotton quilts. 
The second window in this room, looking into the rue de la 
Corderie, had been blocked up and hidden by a mantelshelf 
ornamented with a mirror and a clock representing — oh ! irony of 
fate ! — Fortune overturned. The corner turret, papered like the 
room, served as a cabinet for the queen and Madame Royale. The 
paper on the walls of the rooms occupied by Madame Elisabeth and 
the woman Tison was yellow. The furniture was much plainer ; 
the king's sister slept in an ordinary iron bedstead adorned with 
curtains in toile de Jouy lined with green taffeta, three mattresses, 
a feather bed, a bolster, and a coverlet of Marseilles work ; a chest 
of drawers in veneered wood with a marble top, a walnut-wood 
table, two chairs, two arm-chairs covered with chintz completed 
the furniture of this room ; a mantelshelf and mirror were placed 
against the window looking towards the rue de Beaujolais. The 
turret had been adapted as a garde-robe. Tison's room was 
furnished in a similar manner. All these details concerning the 
furniture are taken from two inventories, one of which was drawn 
up upon the entry of the royal family into the great tower, 
October 23, 1792, and the other, January 19, 1793 ; both these 
documents are preserved at the Archives Rationales (carton E, 6206). 
Consult also Beauchesne, Louis XVll (vol. i.), Chantelauze, and 
Curzon, Le Logis du Temple. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 65 

reading or exercise, as well as the hours devoted to 
the education of the Dauphin and Madame Royale, 
had undergone but slight alteration. After dinner, 
the young prince and his sister used to play 
either at battledore and shuttlecock or at skittles. 
Madame Elisabeth usually seized this opportunity 
to converse with Clery or to give him her orders. 
The Dauphin and Madame Royale, at Madame 
Elisabeth's suggestion, indulged preferably in noisy 
games so that her conversation with Clery might 
not be overheard ; when the municipal guards ap- 
proached, the children used to warn her by signs. 
The playfulness and roguish tricks of this august 
child often helped the king and queen to forget that 
they were prisoners. His conduct and his speech 
were remarkable for tact and prudence seldom seen 
in so young a child. Never was he heard to 
mention the T'uileries, or Versailles, or any object 
which might have reminded the king and queen 
of sad memories or caused them painful regret. 
One day, while he was gazing at a municipal guard 
whom he said he recognized, the fellow asked him 
where he had seen him. The young prince, fearing 
to grieve the king, steadily refused to answer ; at 
last, leaning towards the queen he whispered, 
" We saw him during our journey to Varennes." 

In the month of November, the king's face 
became very swollen ; ^ he asked to be allowed to 

^ This malady, which attacked all the members of the royal 
family, was probably the mumps. — Translator's note. 
5 



66 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

see his dentist ; they refused. Fever attacked 
him ; he was then permitted to consult M. Mon- 
nier, his chief physician. The king's illness lasted 
ten days. Shortly afterwards, the young prince, 
who slept in his Majesty's room, and whom the 
municipal guards had refused to transfer to the 
queen's chamber, was attacked by the same fever. 
The queen's anxiety was greatly increased by the 
fact that she was not allowed, notwithstanding her 
earnest entreaties, to pass the night by her son's 
bedside. 

Her Majesty, together with Madame Royale 
and Madame Elisabeth, were soon attacked by the 
same malady. 

Clery, in his turn, also fell ill. The Dauphin 
vied with his august family in their efforts to 
bestow care and attention upon their valet. The 
Dauphin hardly ever left his bedside and gave him 
to drink with his own hand. Such kindness soon 
restored this useful servitor to health and strength, 
and he recovered ; but he never forgot the follow- 
ing act of thoughtfulness. One day during his 
convalescence Clery, having put the Dauphin to 
bed, retired in order to make room for the queen 
and the two princesses who had come to kiss the 
august child in his bed and to bid him good-night. 
Madame Elisabeth, having been prevented from 
speaking to Clery by the presence of the municipal 
guards, profited by this occasion to slip a little 
box of ipecacuanha lozenges into the Dauphin's 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 67 

hand, at the same time begging him to give them 
to his valet upon his return. The princesses then 
went up to their own rooms, the king retired to 
his study and Clery went to his supper. About 
eleven o'clock he returned to the king's room in 
order to prepare his Majesty's bed. Clery was 
much surprised to find the child still awake ; fear- 
ing that he was unwell, Clery asked him why he 
had not been to sleep yet. " Because my aunt 
gave me a little box for you," he answered, " and 
I did not want to go to sleep until I had given it 
to you ; you've only just come in time, for my 
eyes have already closed several times." The next 
moment the Dauphin fell fast asleep. 

When, on December 31, Louis XVI was 
dragged before the bar of the Commune, the 
Dauphin was again placed in his mother's charge. 

That day was one of the saddest in the king's 
whole existence. At five o'clock in the morning 
the drums all over Paris began to beat to arms. 
Shortly afterwards, the garden of the Temple was 
invaded by cavalry and guns. Clery informed his 
Majesty of the reason for these preparations. He 
went up-stairs with the Dauphin to breakfast in the 
princesses' apartment. The queen, who had like- 
wise been informed of the cause of all this com- 
motion, pretended not to notice it. But the con- 
tinual presence of the municipal officers prevented 
the royal family from giving way to their fears just 
at the time when they were most anxious. At ten 



68 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

o'clock they were obliged to separate ; their mutual 
glances expressed the thoughts their lips dared not 
utter. The Dauphin descended as usual with his 
father. At eleven o'clock, while the king was 
giving his son a reading-lesson, two municipal 
guards came to fetch the young prince in order to 
take him into the queen's chamber. The king 
wished to know the reason of this sudden departure; 
the commissaries replied that they were obeying an 
order from the Conseil de la Commune. His Majesty 
tenderly embraced his son and told Clery to take 
him away. This servitor, on his return, informed 
him that he had given the young prince into the 
queen's arms. The king seemed reassured. He 
then sat down in an arm-chair and, leaning his head 
upon one of his hands, became absorbed in his 
reflections. The municipal guard upon duty in 
the Temple that day now entered. 

" What do you want ? " cried the king in a loud 
voice. 

" I was afraid that you were unwell." 
" I thank you," replied his Majesty very sadly. 
" But it is extremely painful to me to be deprived 
of my son." 

The mayor Chambon, who was to conduct him 
to the Commune^ did not arrive until one o'clock. 
Among other things, the king said to him, " I 
could have wished, sir, that the commissaries had 
left my son with me during the two hours I have 
been waiting for you." 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 69 

As soon as the monarch had been escorted 
back to the Temple, he asked to be taken to his 
family ; this consolation was refused. '* But at 
least," cried the king, " my son may pass the night 
with me, for his bed and his clothes are here." 
The child's kisses would have softened his bitter 
grief. His Majesty, notwithstanding his entreaties, 
could obtain no answer and was obliged to await 
the Commune s decision. The Dauphin passed that 
night and the following nights upon a mattress in 
the queen's chamber. After four days of anxiety 
and reiterated entreaties, the king received notice 
to the effect that, " The queen and Madame 
Elisabeth were to hold no communication with 
the king during his trial ; that his children might 
visit him if he wished, but only on the condition 
that they were not to see their mother and their 
aunt until after the last examination." Having 
read this fiat, the king said to Clery, " You see in 
what a cruel predicament they have placed me ! 
As for my daughter, it is impossible ; as for my son, 
I realize how such a proceeding would grieve his 
mother. I must consent to this fresh sacrifice." 
Thus Louis XVI, ever generous, even at the ex- 
pense of his dearest affections, would not separate 
the children from their mother whom, alas ! he 
was only to behold once more, and under what 
circumstances ! 

On Sunday, January 20, at two o'clock in the 
afternoon, the members of the Conseil executif 



70 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

presented themselves before the king. The minister 
of justice, Garat, with his hat on his head, acted 
as spokesman. After hearing the fatal decree, 
Louis XVI asked to be allowed to see his family in 
private and without any witnesses. It was necessary 
to obtain the Convention s consent ; the reply came 
at six o'clock. The municipal guards, however, 
objected, and declared that the Commune had com- 
manded them never to let the king out of their 
sight. It was finally decided, in order to conciliate 
both parties, that the king was to receive his family 
in the dining-room, so that the guards could watch 
his movements through the glass window fixed in 
the wooden partition, but that the door was to be 
closed so that he might not be overheard. 

At half-past eight o'clock at night, the royal 
family descended to the king's apartment ; the 
queen appeared first, holding her son by the hand; 
then came Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth. 
They flung themselves into the king's arms. A 
mournful silence, only broken by long-drawn sighs, 
reigned for several minutes. The queen wished to 
take the king aside, " No," said the king, " let us 
go into this room; I may only see you there." 
They entered and Clery closed the glazed door. 
The king sat down, with the queen on his right 
hand, Madame Elisabeth on his left and Madame 
Royale opposite to him ; the Dauphin stood leaning 
against the king's knee. Every one was in tears ; 
they mingled their sobs and cries ; the princesses, 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 71 

leaning towards .the king, embraced him several 
times. At last, worn out with weeping, their tears 
ceased to flow. They now only spoke in whispers. 
The commissaries, standing behind the glazed door, 
listened eagerly, but in vain ; they could hear 
nothing. They saw, however, that whenever the 
king spoke, the princesses' sobs redoubled, lasted 
for several minutes, and then ceased when the king 
began to speak again. It was easy to see that he 
had informed them of his condemnation. 

During this painful scene, which lasted one hour 
and three-quarters, this child, born to occupy a 
throne but who was only to inherit his father's 
misfortunes and his crown of martyrdom, pressed 
his Majesty in his trembling arms, covered his 
hands and his clothes with kisses, and hiding his 
face in his father's lap, shed bitter tears. The 
barbarous guards saw the unhappiest of monarchs 
bless his unhappy children ; they saw them em- 
brace each other ; they witnessed their speechless 
agony. 

At a quarter-past ten o'clock the king and his 
family rose from their seats : Clery opened the 
door ; the queen was embracing the king's right 
arm, their Majesties each held one of the Dauphin's 
hands ; Madame Royale, on the left, was clasping 
the king round the waist, while Madame Elisabeth, 
on the same side but more in the background, had 
seized her brother's left arm ; they moved towards 
the door uttering groans and piercing cries which 



72 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

must have been audible outside the walls of the 
tower. 

" I assure you," said the king to them, " that I 
will see you to-morrow morning at eight o'clock." 
" Do you promise .?" they repeated with one 
voice. 

" Yes, I promise." 

" Why not at seven o'clock ? " asked the queen. 

" Very well, then : yes ! at seven o'clock," 
replied his Majesty. 

He uttered his adieux in such a touching 
manner that their sobs redoubled. Madame 
Royale, who had been clasping the king in her 
arms, fell fainting at his feet. Clery raised the 
princess and helped Madame Elisabeth to support 
her. The king, anxious to put an end to this 
heartbreaking scene, found courage to tear himself 
from his wife's arms, and to bid farewell to his 
sister and to his children, whom he tenderly em- 
braced. " Adieu ! adieu ! " cried he and re-entered 
his room. 

On the following day, January 21, a day 
ever to be regretted, the king said to Clery in a 
piteous tone, " I am going to ask that you may be 
allowed to stay with my son ; take care of him in 
this fearful abode. Remind him, tell him how 
I grieved for the misfortunes which he is now 
obliged to endure. One day, perhaps, he will 
reward your devotion." 

The royal family had passed the night in the 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 73 

greatest consternation. With terror-stricken hearts 
they awaited this last interview. Heedless for 
aught but the dictates of his own heart, the king 
wished to keep his promise to the queen. But M. 
I'abbe de Firmont/ his Majesty's confessor, begged 
the king not to allow the queen to undergo this 
fearful ordeal, as she would be unable to bear it. 
" You are right, sir," said he, " it would kill her ; 
it were better to deprive myself of this sad consola- 
tion and to let her live in hope for a few more 
minutes." 

A few moments later, the king called Clery 
and said to him, " Give this seal to my son . . . 
and this ring to the queen ; tell her that it grieves 
me to part with it. . . . This little packet contains 
the hair of all the different members of my 
family, you will give her that also. . . . Tell the 
queen, tell my dear children and my sister, that 
I had promised to see them this morning, but 
I wanted to spare them the sorrow of such a cruel 
parting : how painful it is to me to have to leave 
them without receiving their last kisses ! . . ." 

His Majesty wiped away a few tears and 
re-entered his study. Just as he was about to leave 
the prison, he turned towards the municipal guards, 

^ The I'abbd Edgeworth de Firmont, an Irish priest, who assisted 
Louis XVI during his last moments. After many unsuccessful 
attempts to escape, he finally left France and joined Louis XVIII 
at Mittau, where he eventually died from a fever contracted while 
tending some French prisoners of war. — Translator's note. 



74 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

saying, " Gentlemen, I should like Clery to stay 
near my son, who is accustomed to him ; I hope 
that the Commune will accede to my request." 

At nine o'clock in the morning, the ominous 
sound of rolling drums announced that the king 
was about to be removed from the Temple. The 
queen, bathed in tears, besought the commissaries 
to allow her to go down-stairs, so that she might 
embrace the king for the last time : they replied 
that they had received no orders to that effect. 

Monsieur was at Ham, in Westphalia, when 
on January, 28, 1793, he heard the frightful news 
of the death of his august brother. His Royal 
Highness was " overcome with horror when he 
learnt that the greatest criminals the world has ever 
known had just crowned their numberless sins by 
the most horrible of all crimes." ^ 

He wrote to the French refugees then dwelling 
in foreign lands and informed them that he had 
taken the title of Regent, a title he was authorized 
to assume, by right of birth, during the minority of 
Louis XVII, his nephew, and that he had bestowed 
on Monsieur le comte d'Artois the title of lieu- 
tenant-general of the kingdom. His royal highness 
the regent accordingly issued that same day a 
Declaration and Letters-Patent ; these were printed 
in Paris by Crapart, and thousands of copies 
distributed all over France. The regent also 
announced the deplorable event to the different 

^ Termes de la Declaration de Son Altesse Royale. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 75 

European Courts. The empress of Russia, 
Catherine II, hastened to recognize in the person 
of Louis XVII the rightful heir to the throne of 
France. Nearly all the other Powers imitated her 
example. Meanwhile the royal family in the 
Temple were so deeply plunged in grief that they 
had become almost insensible to their own mis- 
fortunes and to the coarse treatment accorded 
them by Tison and some of the barbarous 
gaolers of Louis XVI. Maternal love finally 
prev iled in the queen's heart ; the thought 
that she owed herself to her children gave 
her courage and even hope. 

From that moment, the unhappy queen, con- 
centrating all her thoughts upon the Dauphin and 
Mad-ame Royale, devoted herself entirely to con- 
tinuing their education. " Madame Elisabeth 
assisted the queen ; she loved her brother's children 
with a mother's love. Notwithstanding the 
paucity of works necessary for their education, the 
latter was not neglected : the two princesses*^ mental 
resources were more than adequate to the task ; 
not a single moment of the day was lost ; the very 
games were designed for a useful end. It was 
impossible to see, without feeling touched, the 
young king scarcely eight years old, leaning on a 
little table, attentively reading the history of France, 
then repeating what he had just read, and eagerly 
listening to his mother and his aunt's remarks. 
The most ferocious commissaries could not help 



76 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

feeling some emotion, though, to tell the truth, 
they soon blamed themselves for their weakness/' 

The queen thanked heaven that her enemies had 
left her this one consolation for her misfortunes. 
Ever generous, ever magnanimous, she excused her 
persecutors ; she forgave them and wished her 
children to forgive them. She made the young 
king promise that, if he ever recovered his regal 
authority, he would imitate his father's clemency. 
This excellent prince could never consider his 
enemies except as men who had been deceived and 
led astray, less by their own passions than by the 
crimes which engender great revolutions and which 
few people are sufficiently virtuous to withstand. 

Some of the municipal guards, deeply touched 
by the sad fate of the queen, the young king and 
the royal family, formed a plan to liberate them 
from the Temple. Toulan, one of the men who 
showed the greatest zeal and rendered the most 
valuable services to these illustrious victims during 
their sojourn in the temple, was the first to con- 
ceive this bold scheme, which he submitted to the 
queen. But her Majesty wished that this scheme 
might be examined first of all by one of her most 
faithful servitors, M. le chevalier de Jarjaye, 
formerly brigadier-general (now lieutenant-general), 
to whom Louis XVI had often confided important 
secret missions. Toulan, the bearer of the queen's 
message, waited upon this officer. 

After several interviews, M. de Jarjaye said that 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 77 

he thought success was possible, but he considered 
that it was absolutely necessary to confide the 
secret of this perilous undertaking to a second com- 
missary on duty in the Temple, and that M. Lepitre 
was the only suitable person. 

When M. de Jarjaye had arranged the pre- 
liminaries of this plan of escape, and when he had 
caused a suit of men's clothes and other garments to 
be made for the queen and Madame Elisabeth, the 
commissaries smuggled these different clothes into 
the tower. The princesses, wearing tricoloured 
scarfs and provided with free passes such as the 
municipal officers possessed, were to leave the 
tower in these disguises. 

Great difficulties lay in the way of rescuing 
Madame Royale and especially the Dauphin, who 
was very carefully guarded ; however, a plan was 
invented. A man was employed every morning 
to clean the lamps and to light them at night ; he 
was usually accompanied by two children who 
helped him in his work ; he always left the Temple 
before seven o'clock. It was therefore arranged 
that, after his departure and when the sentinels had 
been relieved, one of Toulan's friends, a zealous 
royalist, was to enter the Temple by means of a card 
like those given to the workmen employed in the 
building, go up into the queen's chamber carrying 
his tool-chest under his arm, and receive the 
children from Toulan, who was to scold him 
because he had not attended to the lamps ; having 



78 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

descended with the children, he was to leave the 
Temple and take them to the appointed place of 
meeting. 

Three cabriolets ^ had been prepared for the 
journey. The queen and the young king were to 
get into the first with M. de Jarjaye. Madame 
Royale was to be escorted in the second by M. 
Lepitre, and Madame Elisabeth was to occupy the 
third with Toulan. The whole affair had been 
arranged in such a manner that the gaolers would 
be unable to pursue the fugitives until five or six 
hours had elapsed after their departure. The pass- 
ports being in order, would give them no trouble 
on the road. 

At first it had been settled that the fugitives 
were to seek shelter in la Vendee, which was 
beginning to rise in revolt ; but the distance 
appeared too great and the difficulties too numerous. 
It seemed easier to reach the coast of Normandy, 
and from there to get taken over to England. M. de 
Jarjaye, who had a boat at his disposal on the coast 
near Havre, decided that this was the wisest plan. 
" M. de Jarjaye," says M. Lepitre, *' declared that 
he would see to everything, that he had the 
necessary means, and that we could depend upon 
his talents and zeal, which were proof against 
everything." 

We recommend our readers to read in M. 
Lepitre's Souvenirs^ the account of all the 

1 Cabriolet : a hackney carriage. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 79 

precautions taken to insure success to this plan of 
escape. The latter was to have taken place in the 
beginning of March, when an insurrection, planned 
intentionally, occasioned the pillage of the sugar 
and coffee warehouses in the capital, and caused, 
without any reason, the barriers to be closed, and 
all passports to be suspended for a time. 

The escape of the august prisoners, and 
especially that of the young king, who, as we have 
already said, was most carefully guarded, was 
rendered by this and subsequent events impossible. 
The queen's escape did not present the same 
difficulty ; therefore M. de Jarjaye determined to 
beg this princess, whose life was in imminent 
danger, to profit by the resources still remaining to 
her, and to escape from her tormentors. 

Toulan, whose marvellous zeal and courage we 
cannot sufficiently praise, who acted as messenger 
between her Majesty and M. de Jarjaye, was 
charged to place before the queen all the details 
concerning this new scheme. This time Toulan, 
who was to act alone, was to smuggle the queen 
out of the Temple and to conduct her to a certain 
spot where the princess would find M. de Jarjaye, 
who, for his part, was to take precautions to insure 
the safety of this unfortunate queen. 

Her Majesty approved this plan ; everything 
had been arranged. But on the eve of the day 
chosen for her departure, the queen, unable to bear 
the thought of parting with her children and 



80 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Madame Elisabeth, wrote to M. de Jarjaye a letter 
which we have seen, written entirely by her 
Majesty's own hand, and which M. Chauveau- 
Lagarde, the defender of the queen and Madame 
Elisabeth, first published in his Note historique sur 
les proces des deux princesses. 

Here is this wonderful letter, word for word 
with the original : " We have dreamt a beautiful 
dream. That is all. But we have gained much, 
for this episode has shown that we were wise to 
place our confidence in you. You will ever find 
me dignified and courageous ; but my son's welfare 
is all important to me. Though I might have 
rejoiced to leave this prison, I could not consent 
to leave him. Without my children, I could enjoy 
nothing. I do not even regret my resolution." 

After having made this decision, fearing that 
the queen would soon be deprived of all means of 
communicating with her family, her Majesty and 
Madame Elisabeth begged M. de Jarjaye, in the 
beginning of May, to send to Monsieur and to 
Monseigneur le comte d'Artois the seal, ring and 
packet containing the hair of the royal family, 
which the king, shortly before his departure from 
the Temple, had instructed Clery to carry to the 
queen. Towards the end of March 1793, the 
queen and Madame Elisabeth confided this precious 
trust to M. de Jarjaye, who, in the beginning of 
May, had the good fortune to send these objects to 
Monsieur, who was then at Ham in Westphalia. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 81 

On March 26, Toulan and M. Lepitre had 
been denounced before the Conseil general de la 
Commune on account of their behaviour to the 
royal family. Hebert demanded that they should 
be dispossessed of their office. They therefore 
ceased to be numbered among the commissaries 
charged to watch over the prisoners in the Temple. 
Some time afterwards the unfortunate Toulan paid 
with his head his noble devotion to the royal 
family. 

These different plans for escape had not been 
concerted without awakening Tison's suspicions. 
This gaoler, accustomed to use the most shocking 
language in his conversation with the commissaries 
whom he knew to be villains, feigned a certain 
amount of pity in the presence of those whom he 
considered honest and kind-hearted, and even went 
so far as to rave about the young king's charming 
qualities. This was how this crafty, cruel man 
endeavoured to worm himself into the secrets of 
the municipal guards and to discover their real 
opinions. But although the princesses were upon 
their guard against his machinations, although 
Madame Royale, during her mother's absence, 
always remained in one of the turrets with her 
brother, so that the prince, who was still very 
young, might not involuntarily commit some in- 
discretion, and thus give Tison cause to suspect 
any plot, the latter hastened to denounce them 
before the Conseil general de la Commune. 



82 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

It was on April 19 that this villain and his wife 
accused the queen and Madame Elisabeth of 
" having bribed several municipal officers to keep 
them informed of current events, provide them 
with newspapers and help them to communicate 
with their absent friends." On the morrow, 
Hebert, ever the implacable enemy of the royal 
family, hastened to the Temple in order to make a 
thorough search, which operation lasted until four 
o'clock in the morning. The young prince was 
asleep ; they dragged him out of bed that they 
might examine his mattress and even his clothes. 
The result of this vexatious visit was the discovery 
of a stick of sealing-wax. 

From that moment the royal family lost all 
hope. The Commune now only sent to the Temple 
commissaries who were known for their severity. 
A wall was erected in the garden and shutters were 
placed before all the windows. Even greater 
precautions were taken when it was known that 
Dumouriez had gone over to the Austrians, that 
his soldiers had deserted and that the Prussians had 
been successful. In the month of May the young 
prince fell ill. The queen asked the Conseil general 
to send M. Brunyer, the royal children's physician, 
in whom she had great confidence, to see the sick 
child. Her Majesty's request was refused. At 
the end of four days, the illness having increased, 
the prison doctor was sent to the Temple. The 
queen and Madame Elisabeth nursed the king and 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 83 

never left him night or day, as they had done 
when, after the death of Louis XVI, Madame 
Royale fell ill and, owing to want of proper 
medical advice, suffered much from swollen limbs. 
Certain newspapers had revealed the fact that the 
princesses treated Louis XVII as the king of 
France, that the royal family went every morning 
to salute him and to render to him all the homage 
due to royalty. These and many other rumours 
circulated by the Jacobins drew people's attention 
to what was going on in the Temple. Some time 
after this, the section du Finistere (faubourg Saint- 
Marceau) asked that the other Parisian sections and 
the rural cantons might assemble in order to draw 
up an address to be sent to the Convention demand- 
ing that the queen and Madame Elisabeth should 
be tried, and that sure measures should be taken to 
prevent Louis XVII succeeding to his father's 
throne. 

The struggle between the Jacobins and the 
Girondins left neither party any leisure to attend 
to these demands. However, after May 31, the 
Jacobins, now masters of the battlefield, hastened 
to examine the numerous denunciations which 
they themselves had uttered against the royal 
family. Events accelerated the execution of their 
sinister plans. 

Some time before these events took place, 
Lullier, attorney-general to the Commune^ confided 
to the deputy Herault de Sechelles that, owing to 



84 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

his position, he had been able to ascertain the ex- 
istence, not only in the provinces but even in the 
Convention itself, of a considerable party in favour 
of the young prince ; that, when this party had 
grown sufficiently powerful, Louis XVII was to be 
rescued from the Temple and presented to the 
people holding in his hand the Constitution of 1791. 
Hdrault de Sechelles hastened to publish this secret 
to the whole world. 

It is true that schemes were made to restore 
the throne to Louis XVII, and in justice we must 
confess that several members of the Convention 
hoped to reestablish the former monarchy on its 
original foundations. But how many factionists 
only feigned to support these schemes in order to 
win over to their own side the still numerous 
friends of royalty, to crush rival factions and to use 
the young king and the queen, his mother, to 
further their own ambitions ! These divers 
schemes served, at least, as a pretext to the leaders 
of the revolution (who mutually accused each 
other of royalism) to send their brethren to the 
scaffold. We will not interrupt our account of 
the young king's personal history by relating details 
of clumsy plans concerted with the nominal aim of 
rescuing the young prisoner; we will only mention 
those schemes which, by awakening terror in the 
hearts of the anarchists, influenced the fate of the 
young king and the august prisoners in the Temple. 

One of the most remarkable of these schemes 




LOUIS XYII. 
At the age of Eight. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 85 

was a certain plan divulged by Cambon, agent for 
the Comite de Salut public^ in the presence of the 
Conviention^^vX'^ 13, 1793. After a lengthy state- 
ment concerning the condition of France, the 
deputy said, " We are in an extremely awkward 
position ; the whole Republic is in ebullition, the 
southern and western towns are arming in order 
to effect what they are pleased to term the re- 
establishment of order and the punishment of the 
guilty, etc." He then concluded as follows : 

" A few days ago some officers from a Parisian 
section came to the Comite and denounced a plot 
whereby the son of Louis XVI was to be abducted 
on July 1 5 and proclaimed king under the title of 
Louis XVIL General Dillon, together with twelve 
other officers, was to be placed at the head of the 
conspirators' army ; the authors of this plot were to 
repair to the different Parisian sections and to take 
possession of as many of them as possible under the 
pretext of combating the anarchists and re-establish- 
ing order ; they believed that they could count 
upon sixty persons in each section ; that the first 
thing to be done would be to spike the guns, to 

^ Comite de Salut public : a committee originally composed fof 
nine and later of twelve members, instituted April 6, 1793, by a 
decree from the Convention nationale ,• for nearly a whole year it 
enjoyed unlimited authority in France until it was replaced in 
1795 by the Directoire. 

The Comitk de Surete gMrale^ also instituted in 1793, was 
charged to denounce to the tribunal rkvolutionnaire all the con- 
spiracies and plots to weaken the latter's power. — Translator's note. 



86 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

seize the muskets stored in the guard-houses, and to 
assemble on the place de la Revolution ; the con- 
spirators were then to separate into two columns, one 
of which was to march along the boulevards and 
seize the young Louis, and the other was to repair 
to the Convention and force its members to proclaim 
him king ; Marie-Antoinette was to be proclaimed 
regent during his minority ; the authors of this 
revolution were to form the king's bodyguard and 
to be decorated with white watered-silk ribbon 
badges bearing an inverted eagle and these words, 
' Down with anarchy ! Long live Louis XVII !'" 

Cambon added that after the denunciation of 
this and other similar plots, the Comite had caused 
Dillon to be arrested, together with the principal 
authors of this scheme ; the general had admitted 
that certain persons had proposed to him that he 
should put himself at the head of a band of indivi- 
duals who were anxious to support the efforts of 
the departments and to give the upper hand to 
" honest folks," but he had denied the existence of 
any plot to give the crown to Louis XVII. 

Lastly, Cambon concluded his statement by 
announcing that, in consequence of this informa- 
tion, the Comite had signed, on July i, a mandate 
declaring that the son of Louis XVI was to be 
separated from his mother and his family, and to 
be given into the charge of a tutor nominated by 
the Conseil general de la Commune. This mandate 
was approved by the Convention. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 87 

The queen was totally unprepared for this 
terrible separation. At the time of the king's 
death she had feared that he might be taken away 
from her; but as he had been left for the last six 
months in her charge, she had begun to hope that 
her tormentors would not deprive her of this dear 
child. 

On July 3, at ten o'clock at night, six com- 
missaries from the Commune came to inform her 
Majesty of the fatal decree ordering the transfer of 
the son of Louis XVI to another part of the tower. 
The queen refused to give her consent to such a 
proceeding, and earnestly entreated that her son 
might be left in her care. She placed herself in 
front of the bed in which the child was lying, and 
strove to defend him against the attacks of the 
municipal guards. Madame Royale and Madame 
Elisabeth, equally terrified by this separation which 
presaged still more ominous measures, covered 
with their kisses the unhappy prince who had 
taken refuge in his mother's arms. The whole 
family shed torrents of tears; they even stooped 
so low as to beg humbly for a little pity; but 
nothing could soften the hard hearts of the com- 
missaries who, probably, had never possessed any 
tender feelings. They were in a hurry to go ; 
they threatened to fetch the soldiers on guard to 
help them to obtain possession of the child. 
Obliged to yield to force, the queen and the 
trembling princesses dressed the young prince. 



88 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

When they were about to drag the child away, 
the queen, kissing him for the last time, said to 
him : " Remember, my son, remember a mother 
who loves you ; be good, gentle and virtuous." 
It would almost seem as if, when the queen re- 
commended him to be virtuous and gentle, she 
foresaw that he would have need of these qualities 
in order to tame the tiger charged to watch over 
him. At last the commissaries tore the young 
prince from the queen's arms ; she begged that she 
might be allowed to see her son again, if only 
during meal-time; they scarcely deigned to reply 
to her prayers; the barbarians knew very well 
that she would never again behold her child ! . . . 
Separated from all whom he loved on earth, 
the young Louis refused to take any nourishment; 
for two days and nights he wept without ceasing. 
He never ceased to ask for his mother, his sister 
and his aunt. To whom did he address his 
prayers ? . . . To the infamous Simon,^ on whom 

1 Many historians of the royalist party, including Eckard, 
represent Simon as a perfect fiend. Recent authorities, however, 
declare that the touching scenes quoted by their confreres were 
invented and that Simon, although rough and brutal in his manner, 
did not go so far as to martyr the Dauphin. M. Lenotre has 
written an interesting article upon the prince's tutor in his Vieilles 
Maisons, vieux Papier s (edited by Perrin, Paris), from which some 
of the following details are quoted. Antoine Simon, born at 
Troyes in 1736, the son of a butcher, came to Paris while still 
very young. Having being apprenticed to a shoemaker, he obtained 
his lettres de maitrise ; but either by ill-luck or by his own fault, 
he only vegetated and remained a mere cobbler in miserable 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 89 

the Commune had bestowed the title of tutor, 
to that drunken shoemaker, Robespierre's protege^ 

circumstances. In November 1766 he married the widow of a 
master-shoemaker, Fr6d6ric Munster by name ; this woman brought 
him her first husband's stock-in-trade as her dower. As business 
did not prosper, the shoemaker purchased a cheap eating-house 
situated in the rue de Seine, where he hved from hand to mouth, 
reduced to borrow money and to have recourse to many other 
expedients until, his goods having been seized, he was obliged to 
leave the rue de Seine for a tiny lodging in the rue des Cordeliers, 
on the second floor of a house adjoining the Ecole de Midec'ine. 

Simon was then forced to resume his former trade of cobbler, 
and in order to buy the necessary materials and implements, he 
endeavoured to borrow money from his step-daughter ; on her 
refusal he pawned, at the Mont de Pieti^ two gold watches and 
the clothes of his wife, Marie-Barbe. The latter fell ill soon 
afterwards and died in the Hotel Dieu^ March 11, 1786. Things 
prospered no better with the shoemaker, now a widower ; he was 
now without any resources, no one would give him credit ; wher- 
ever he went he was besieged by duns. 

However, a few months later, Marie-Jeanne Aladame, char- 
woman to Madame Fourcroy, consented to share his miserable 
existence, and on May 20, 1788, married Antoine Simon in the 
church of Saint-Come. Simon was then fifty-two years of age ; 
his wife was forty-three. Antoine Simon was a tall, rough-look- 
ing individual, with broad shoulders, lank, black hair and dark 
skin ; but he was not considered a bad fellow by his neighbours. 
As to Marie-Jeanne, born in Paris, the daughter of a carpenter 
who died while she was still a child, her big features gave her 
a harsh appearance ; but she was a good creature and an excellent 
housekeeper. She owned a small annuity which had been left to 
her by the wife of a wine-merchant as a reward for long and 
faithful service. 

The newly-wedded pair then left Simon's lodging in order to 
set up in the rue des Cordeliers, on the third floor of one of those 
old houses, still in existence, behind the statue of the celebrated 
conventionnel Danton. The shoemaker now found himself in the 



90 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

well worthy of such a monster's protection. A 
few days after this cruel separation had taken place, 

very centre of the revolutionary circle. Marat, Danton, Fabre 
d'Eglantine, and Camille Desmoulins were his neighbours ; and 
when the storm burst, they were all gathered together in the 
section des Cordeliers. So when Danton was nominated minister, 
August 10, 1 79 1, honours were showered on the club and Simon 
came in for his share : he was appointed commissary of the Com- 
mune provisoire. From that moment, having nothing to lose, he 
flung himself headlong into the rushing, boiling stream. On 
September 2, 1792, he was sent with Michonis to try and stop 
the massacres at Bicetre and at the Salpetriere ; his intervention, 
however, was unsuccessful. On September i, 1792, he drew 
up the inventory of the papers and property of the prisoners in 
Orleans, which prisoners were massacred while passing through 
Versailles. 

Marie-Jeanne helped in a more peaceful manner to further the 
cause of new opinions by caring for the federates from Marseilles, 
wounded during the events of August 10 and installed, in her 
own neighbourhood, in the Convent des Cordeliers^ which had been 
converted into a hospital on that occasion. The wounded soldiers 
declared her to be a courageous and devoted nurse ; and when she 
asked the Convention to repay her for the tisanes and other remedies 
which, owing to the smallness of the subsidy allowed to her, she 
had been obliged to buy with her own funds, Chaumette and the 
Marseillais declared that her demand was quite justified and helped 
her to obtain satisfaction. It was probably while she was nursing 
the " brave federates " that the woman Simon made the acquaint- 
ance of Marat, who was a doctor in the same Hopital des Cordeliers. 
Perhaps this was the first link in the chain of events which gave 
the Simons their comfortable post in the Temple. Chaumette 
must also have had a large share in the shoemaker's nomination 
as tutor to the Dauphin. This scheme to turn the Dauphin into 
a little democrat by purging him of all his aristocratic leaven, by 
having him educated by the very plebeian and very vulgar Simon, 
is certainly very conformable to the character and ultra-democratic 
principles of Anaxogaras Chaumette, in other words Gaspard 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 91 

Drouet, Chabot and other commissaries from the 
Comite de Surete generale repaired to the Temple, 

Chaumette. On the other hand, Chaumette had been nominated 
prosecutor to the Commune in December 1792, and had therefore 
charge of the prisoners in the Temple. He needed a staunch 
patriot to guard the royal child, a guardian whom the ever- 
wakeful conspirators would be unable to corrupt ; all these cir- 
cumstances tend to prove that the esteem enjoyed by the woman 
Simon in the Hopital des Cordeliers was a valuable factor in the 
fortunes of the worthy couple. 

It was on July 3, 1 793, that Marie-Jeanne and her husband 
took their places in the coach which had come to convey them to 
the Hotel de Ville^ where they were to receive confirmation of their 
nomination to the Temple. This was an unexpected stroke of 
good luck, and the change from a sordid lodging to a comfortable 
abode on the second floor of the Temple was more than they 
had ever dared hope for. With food and lodging free, Simon 
received, as tutor to the young prince, the sum of 6,000 livres ; 
his wife, for her share in taking care of the child, received 4,000 
livres. Simon probably profited by this post to indulge in his 
favourite pastimes, such as gambling, and his equally favourite 
drinking bouts. A brawler, like every born drunkard, naturally 
coarse by birth and by education, he must have made the Dauphin 
suffer more by his presence and rough manners, than by actual 
deeds of cruelty ; on different occasions, he even showed a certain 
amount of solicitude for his pupil. Be this as it may, Simon, for 
some unexplained reason, notwithstanding all his advantages and 
the poverty which he knew was in store for him if he gave up this 
post, soon wearied of his role of gaoler. This change of living 
had also affected the health of Marie- Jeanne, for in the beginning 
of December 1793 she suffered from congested liver. At last a 
decision passed by the Commune forbidding plurality of functions 
obliged Simon to choose between his post as member of the Con- 
seil genhal de la Commune and that of tutor to the Dauphin. Was 
Simon carried away by his enthusiasm for civism or, knowing 
that several plots had been made to rescue the prisoners in the 
Temple, did he fear for his own head ? However, he gave in his 



92 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

less to prove, as they declared, that the rumours 
of Louis XVIFs escape were false, than to satisfy 

resignation, and on January lo, 1 794, left the Temple. During the 
whole day long, Marie-Jeanne, still suffering from a recent attack 
of asthma, dragged her goods and chattels down those steep stairs. 
At nine o'clock at night, the couple left the Temple for the last 
time. During their stay, the Dauphin had been comparatively 
happy j his keepers had allowed him to run and play about his 
room as well as in the gardens. Simon had had a little billiard- 
table brought for him ; a case of mechanical birds also helped to 
amuse him ; and in order to prevent him feeling the separation 
from his sister, they had even found a little companion of his own 
age, the daughter of the washerwoman Clouet. The commis- 
saries Chabot and Drouet, charged to ascertain the presence of the 
young prince, noticed no signs which could make them think that 
he had been subjected to ill-treatment. Dr. Thierry, who attended 
the child and paid him seventy-seven visits, would have noticed 
any bruises or marks of blows if the Dauphin had really been 
ill-treated by his keepers. During two short illnesses the woman 
Simon had nursed him with the greatest care and devotion. It 
was under these conditions that the tutor gave his pupil into the 
charge of the commissaries from the Convention ; the fact is proved 
by an extract from the Moniteur^ at that time the official news- 
paper. 

On leaving the tower of the Temple, the Simons did not 
return to their lodging in the rue des Cordeliers, but we find them 
installed in an apartment, consisting of two rooms and a kitchen, 
in a house adjoining the Temple and looking into the stable-yard 
of that building. Simon, no doubt as a reward for his zeal and 
devotion to civism, was nominated, on April 6, 1794, inspector 
of army baggage-wagons, a post which he did not occupy for very 
long, for in the month of July he returned to the section des Cor- 
deliers and hired two rooms in the former Convent des Cordeliers^ 
still keeping his lodging in the Temple and his apartment in the 
rue des Cordeliers, as proved by the seals affixed to these three 
domiciles on his death (G. Lenotre). Finally, a fortnight after his 
removal to the Cordeliers, the storm of the 9th thermidor burst 



MEMOmS UPON LOUIS XVII 93 

themselves in what manner the orders of the Comite 
de Saluf public had been executed, and to give private 
instructions to Simon and to the other keepers 
on the treatment to be accorded to the son of 
Louis XVI and to the princesses. 

The anarchists saw by the events at that time 
taking place all over France that their reign of 
tyranny was almost at an end. The Austrians took 
possession of Conde, Valenciennes, and other places. 
Caen and several towns in the west of France now 
only acknowledged the young king's claims and 
refused to obey the Convention ; la Vendee was 
becoming more and more formidable. Lyons out- 
lawed the montagnards ; and Toulon, proclaiming 
Louis XVII king of France and Navarre, joyfully 
surrendered to the English. 

We can imagine the impression made by these 
events upon the minds of the Constitutionnels whose 
hands still reeked of the blood of Louis XVI. The 
president of the Assemblee, the ferocious Billaud- 
Varennes who, owing to the above ominous events, 

and swept Simon away. He was arrested at the section des Cor- 
deliers and executed the following morning. 

A year later Marie-Jeanne, then in a very bad state of health, 
inherited the shoemaker's humble fortune. Thanks to the surgeon 
Naudin, she was permitted as a favour to remain at the Cordeliers. 
At last, on April 12, 1796, she was admitted to the Hospital for 
Incurables in the rue de Sevres (now the Hopital Laennec). The 
sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul, who directed this establishment, 
testified to her good conduct and her excellent character. It was 
here that, on June 10, 18 19, the companion of the Dauphin's 
" tutor " died. She was buried in the cemetery of Vaugirard. 



94 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

had been made a member of the Comite de Salut 
public together with his worthy colleague Collot 
d'Herbois, uttered these prophetic and horrible 
words : " When the heads of the conspirators " 
(Clavieres and Lebrun, whose death he was to 
demand before another week had elapsed), "as 
well as the head of Marie-Antoinette, have fallen 
under the knife of the guillotine, you may tell the 
powers in coalition against you, that one thread 
alone holds the sword suspended above the head 
of Capet's son ; and that if they dare to encroach 
one step farther on your territory, he will be 
the people's first victim. It is only by taking 
such vigorous measures that we can hope to estab- 
lish this, our new form of government." 

We see that this deputy knew the meaning of 
the aforesaid vigorous measures, and was already 
announcing the queen's death and the fate in store 
for her unhappy son. The treatment accorded to 
this unfortunate prince was very probably sug- 
gested by the Commune, and especially by the 
Conventionnels montagnards. Simon dragged the 
innocent victim into the very room once occupied 
by the king, and kept him there in solitary con- 
finement; he alone had the right to visit the 
child. He covered him with abuse ; the position 
of the son of Louis XVI was rendered doubly 
painful by the cruel treatment endured in the very 
room where everything reminded the poor child 
of his father's loving care and affection. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 95 

The tender years, the innocence, the beauty of 
the young king could touch neither the inexorable 
gaoler nor his wife, a veritable vixen, who had 
come to dwell with him in the Temple. They 
obeyed their instructions to the very letter ; in 
their exaggerated enthusiasm for democracy, they 
did all that lay in their power to destroy the 
child's bodily and mental faculties. They wanted 
to make him share their political opinions, imitate 
their coarse manners and sing their regicidal songs. 
The august child resisted for a long time ; we 
may judge of his resistance by the following 
anecdote : 

On August 9, the Convention proclaimed the 
acceptance of the Constitution by which France 
was to be established as a Republic. Simon, 
hearing the cannon announcing this event, said to 
the prince : 

" Capet ! cry ' Long live the Republic ! ' " 

The child refused. The gaoler, having vainly 
told him several times to obey, began to swear and 
to threaten him. 

" You may do what you like," said the young 
king, in a firm voice, " but I will never repeat 
those words ! " 

This characteristic reply was immediately im- 
parted to all the guards on duty that day in the 
Temple. 

But this resistance only served to increase 
the misfortunes of Louis XVII. He now heard 



96 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

nothing but revolting expressions and blasphemous 
oaths. Simon forced him to do all manner of 
dirty house-work ; his wife cut off the young 
prince's hair, the only ornament which still adorned 
his royal forehead ; she stripped off his black 
clothes and made him wear a carmagnole} Simon 
was not content with this unjust conduct towards 
the child, his prisoner ; he even had the cruelty to 
strike him, not only once but several times. One 
day he said to him in an ironical tone, " Well, 
Capet, now you're a Jacobin ! " So saying, he 
placed a red cap upon the head of the descendant 
of Henri IV and Louis XIV. 

The royal child's rare moments of recreation 
were used as a means to humble him. One day 
Simon brought him a jew's-harp, the favourite 
musical instrument of the young Savoyards. 

" Here," said he to the prince, with a horrible 
oath, " your mother and your aunt play the 
harpsichord, you must accompany them upon your 
jew's-harp. What a fine row you will make ! " 

Another day when the young king, ever think- 
ing of his mother, refused to sing some infamous 
verses which had been composed against her, Simon, 
foaming with rage, seized an andiron, and would 
have felled the unfortunate child to the ground 
had the latter not skilfully avoided the blow. 

^ Carmagnole : a short jacket ; also a republican song composed 
in 1792 on the occasion of the taking of Carmagnole, in Pi^mont, 
by the French. — Translator's note. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 97 

My pen refuses to write any more details of 
this cruel treatment. . . . 

The princesses finally discovered that the young 
prince sometimes walked about on the tower of 
the Temple in order to take the air, and that, by 
standing at one of their windows, they could see 
him pass. They spent long hours at their case- 
ment in the hope of seeing him pass by ; and if by 
chance they caught a glimpse of his passing shadow, 
they were overjoyed. This ray of happiness was 
changed to grief when they saw that the child no 
longer wore mourning for his father, that his head 
was covered by the infamous red cap, when they 
learned that oaths and curses were continually 
uttered in his presence, and that his tormentors 
had tried to force him to sing shameful and regi- 
cidal songs. It was said that even Tison was 
horrified by Simon's conduct ; it was Tison who 
revealed to the queen her son's deplorable 
condition. 

Hardly had the august mother heard this 
horrible revelation when, on August 2, at two 
o'clock in the morning, the commissaries came to 
awaken the princesses in order to read to the queen 
the decree ordering her transfer to the Conciergerie?- 

^ It was on August i, 1793, that Marie- Antoinette was trans- 
ferred to the Conctergerie. During that day, Hanriot went to the 
Temple and made a tour of inspection. At eight o'clock that 
night, the guards were ready with their guns loaded. The police 
officers, Michonis, Froidure, Marmier and Michel, repaired to the 
prison at a quarter-past one o'clock in the morning, in order to 
7 



98 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth asked to 
be allowed to accompany her ; their request was 

carry out the Convention's commands summoning the widow Capet 
to appear before the Tribunal rkvolutionnaire and ordering her 
transfer to the Conciergerie. Marie-Antoinette hastily embraced 
her daughter and her sister-in-law, whom she was never again to 
behold. Her son had been taken from her on July 3, 1793. A 
fiacre^ escorted by twenty gendarmes^ was waiting for her at the 
foot of the steps of the Palace and deposited her at the Conciergerie 
at three o'clock in the morning {Rapiers du Temple^ publics dans la 
^^Nouvelle Revue" April i, 1884). 

To tell the truth, the Convention's order had little to do with 
the fate of Marie-Antoinette. It was only responsible for Marie- 
Antoinette's transfer to the Conciergerie. For negotiations had 
already been begun between the Convention and the courts of 
Prussia and Austria with a view to obtaining, in exchange for the 
queen, either the cessation of hostilities or an exchange of prisoners. 
They only wished to hasten the decision of the Powers for whose 
reply they were anxiously waiting. 

If we believe a dispatch addressed to Lord Grenville by 
F. Drake, an English resident in Genoa who sometimes corre- 
sponded with one of the secretaries of the Comite de Salut public 
{Historical manuscript Commission : "The rescaped {sic) M.SS. of J. B. 
Fortescue, II, 457), it was during a private seance of the Comite de 
Salut public^ held in Pache's bureau in the Tuileries, on the night 
of September 4-5, that the queen's fate was decided. Cambon 
vainly pleaded that they could do nothing until the conclusion of 
the present negotiations ; H6bert overruled the ComitPs objections 
by declaring that treachery and corruption were visible on all sides 
and that the Comit^ de Salut public could only continue to exist by 
passing sentence of death upon Marie-Antoinette, thus binding the 
sans-culottes and the revolutionary army to its cause as once before, 
by the death of Louis XVI, it had forced the Convention to come 
to its aid, Fouquier-Tinville, having been sent for, declared him- 
self ready to support the designs of the Comite de Salut public and 
asked that five members of this jury, of whose political fidelity he 
was not quite certain, might be discharged. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 99 

refused. What words could describe this cruel 
separation ! The queen departed, heart-broken at 



Marie-Antoinette, on her arrival at the Conciergerie^ was shut 
up in the council-chamber, a good-sized room looking into the 
women's court, which would now be the prison canteen. Custine, 
whose case was then being tried, had just been removed from this 
chamber. Bertrand, the upholsterer of the prison, provided a 
folding-bed, a bolster, one thin blanket and a wash-hand basin. 
A rough table and two prison chairs were added (Statement made 
by Rosalie Lamorli^re). Marie-Antoinette remained in this room 
from August 3 until September 13 or 14. Two gendarmes^ armed 
with swords and muskets, watched over her. The instructions 
given by the Convention were very strict; it seems, however, 
according to the statements made during the Restauratton^ that the 
prison subordinates, the turnkeys Richard and Lebeau (or Bault), 
and the serving-maid Rosalie Lamorliere, were both humane and 
kind in their treatment of the prisoner. The Convention allowed 
the sum of fifteen Uvres a day for her board ; her expenses for the 
seventy-five days spent by her in the Conciergerie (August 2 to 
October 17, 1793) amounted to the sum of 1,407 livres 6 sous 
(Campardon, Tribunal rlvolutionnaire). We will not repeat the 
touching incidents which marked the unhappy queen's captivity ; 
every one who came near her, the faithful and tactful serving-maid 
Rosalie Lamorliere, M. de Salomon, the internuncio then im- 
prisoned in the Conciergerie^ Mile. Fouche, who procured for Marie- 
Antoinette the services of an unsworn priest, all left memoirs 
which were eventually published during the Restauration and have 
since been utilized by all the queen's historians, beginning with 
Lafont d'Aussonne and ending with the de Goncourts and M. de 
Nolhac. We will only mention that, on September 3, the Chevalier 
de Rougeville, thanks to a disguise, was able to enter the queen's 
prison and to drop a white carnation containing a letter at her 
feet. A false patrol was waiting in one of the courtyards of the 
Conciergerie. Unfortunately, the carnation was picked up by a 
gendarme on duty named Gilbert, for which service he received, as 
a reward, a lieutenant's commission. The queen was transferred 
to another room, formerly the prison pharmacy ; the windows of 



100 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the thought that she was going to be separated 
from those she loved best, and that her son was in 

this room were firmly grated and even partly screened. The 
former turnkey from the prison de la Force, Bault, whose reputa- 
tion for severity was well known, came to replace Richard, who 
was then imprisoned in Sainte-P61agie, and the supervision of the 
prisoner became very strict. It was on this occasion that Marie- 
Antoinette underwent her first examination. 

Amar, in the name of the Comiti: de Surete g^n^rale^ endeavoured 
to draw up the bill of indictment demanded by the clubs, which 
bill Fouquier-Tinville was much astonished not to see forthcoming. 
At first the queen replied in the negative to the question con- 
cerning the white carnation. However, during the second 
examination, she retracted her denial. To the other questions con- 
cerning the queen's political opinion with regard to the Revolution, 
the intervention of the foreign Powers, the banquet given by the 
king's body-guards, the flight to Varennes and the events of August 
10, Marie- Antoinette replied in a shrewd and dignified manner. 

On the 19th vendkmiaire^ Fouquier demanded that the papers 
concerning the trial of Louis XVI should be delivered into his 
keeping by the Comite de S a lut public ; on the 2ist, at six o'clock 
at night, the Tribunal revolutionnaire (with Herman as president) 
proceeded to examine the queen (see Campardon, Tribunal revo- 
lutionnaire). We shall hear Herman repeat all the scandalous 
accusations which, for the last two years, had filled the columns of 
the daily papers and been discussed by every club orator in Paris : 
waste of the public funds, criminal correspondence with the royal 
emigres and with foreign Powers, reactionary influence exercised 
over the weak-willed king, Louis XVI, and, lastly, participation in 
the flight to Varennes and the events of August 10. Tronson- 
Ducoudray and Chauveau-Lagarde were charged to defend her. 
On October 15, 1793, Marie-Antoinette took her seat in the arm- 
chair which her judges, out of respect for her fallen splendour, had 
placed for her in the salle of the Tribunal revolutionnaire. Herman 
presided ; Coffinhal, Maire and Douz6-Verteuil assisted him. 
Fouquier-Tinville pronounced his address in the stiltrd, bombastic 
style then in fashion. We find the text of Herman's examination 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 101 

Simon's hands. At least she did not know, she did 
not hear, what we are now obliged to reveal. 

in Campardon's excellent work {loc. cit.). Herman dared to allude, 
in the open court, to the odious examination which Hebert and 
Chaumette had forced the royal children to undergo in the prison 
of the Temple. Marie-Antoinette, trembling with indignation, 
appealed to every mother's heart. After Fouquier's second speech, 
the president, in a voice cold and sharp, like the knife of the 
guillotine, summed up the debate. What could the queen's 
eloquent defenders do against such fearful odds ? At a quarter 
past four o'clock in the morning Herman read the sentence by 
which Marie-Antoinette was unanimously condemned to suffer 
the penalty of death. 

She remained a queen as long as she was still in the presence 
of the judges and the people ; but when she found herself alone in 
her prison, Marie-Antoinette became a woman once more. She 
wrote to her daughter the sublime letter recorded in history ; and 
when Rosalie Lamorliere, her devoted serving-maid, entered her 
cell, she found her lying ready dressed upon her bed and weeping 
bitterly. She consented, however, to take some nourishment. 
She was then obliged to take off her black dress, for it was feared 
that the sight of her mourning garments might remind the people 
of Louis XVI and excite their fury ; Marie-Antoinette was forced 
to make her last toilet in the presence of the gendarmes who, not- 
withstanding her entreaties, refused to let her out of their sight. 
A sworn priest offered his services, but they were refused ; never- 
theless this man accompanied the queen to the place of execution. 
She had, however, been able to obtain religious assistance. Mile. 
Fouche's Souvenirs (published in 1824 by the comte de Robiano) 
assure us that this pious lady managed to introduce into the queen's 
cell a priest, the abbe Magnin, who heard her confession and gave 
her the Sacrament on several occasions. About ten o'clock, Marie- 
Antoinette was removed from her dungeon and taken to the 
registrar's office, where the judges again read her sentence to her. 
Sanson then appeared ; he cut off her hair and fastened her hands 
behind her back ; at eleven o'clock, she left the Conciergerie and 
took her place in the executioner's cart, which drove off towards the 



102 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

In order to attain his execrable aim, the gaoler 
had changed the young prince's diet. He forced 
him to eat a great deal, and to drink much more 
than was good for him ; the child had always 
disliked wine. This new regime told upon the 
prisoner's bodily and mental health ; he became very 
stout, but his stature did not increase. The child 
fell ill and was attacked by a violent fever : they 

place de la Concorde, surrounded by numerous gendarmes both 
mounted and on foot. A well-known drawing by David shows 
us the queen of France bereft of all her youth and beauty, but 
still a queen, dressed in a white piqu6 dressing-gown. Loose locks 
of hair, rapidly turning grey, fluttered beneath the wretched cap 
which covered her head. Desessart, one of the witnesses of her 
death said : " We could perceive no signs of despair in her face." 
She was calm, and appeared not to notice the cries of " Long live 
the Republic ! " uttered by the crowd which lined the streets. 
While the procession was passing close to the Jacobins, the actor 
Grammont, who was on horseback near the cart, brandished his 
sword and cried : " Ah ! there she is, that infamous Marie- 
Antoinette, she's , my friends ! " 

Marie-Antoinette, on her arrival at the foot of the scaffold, 
jumped lightly and quickly to the ground. *' She seemed deter- 
mined to appear quite unconcerned," says Rouy, another eye- 
witness of her execution and author of Le Magkien repuhl'icain ; 
she spoke neither to the crowd nor to the executioners whom she 
allowed to prepare her for death ; she herself pulled her cap off her 
head. Her execution and its ghastly prelude lasted for about four 
minutes. Punctually at a quarter-past twelve o'clock her head fell 
under the avenging knife, and the executioner showed it to the 
crowd amid repeated cries of " Long live the Republic ! " 

Her body, having been carried to the cemetery of the Madeleine, 
was not buried until a fortnight later (M. de Rocheterie, Histotre 
de Marie- Antoinette\ November I, 1793 ; the sexton Joly took 
upon himself to dig a grave, for which task he claimed the sum 
of 15 livres 35 sob. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 103 

made him take some medicine which was nearly- 
fatal to him ; the prince recovered, however, thanks 
to his excellent constitution. 

It was only after the queen's departure that the 
princesses, now alone in their lodging, understood 
to what depths of depravity Simon had sunk : they 
learned how he obliged the unfortunate child to eat 
and to drink too much, and then, when the innocent 
victim's reason was obscured, used violence in 
order to make him sing indecent and impious 
songs. 

These tortures soon influenced the mind and 
health of the. young king to such an extent that 
he trembled whenever he beheld his keeper, and, 
terrified by continual imprecations, soon became 
nothing but a machine in the hands of his tormentor. 
It was then that, on October 5, 1793, the execrable 
Simon and the infernal Hebert, in order to put the 
finishing touch to their crime, forced the unhappy- 
child to sign, without, however, allowing him to 
read, the examination which they pretended they 
had made him undergo, but which Hebert had 
prepared with the help of a certain municipal 
officer named Daujon, his worthy rival, who 
boasted that he had written the whole thing 
with his own hand a few days previously. 

The queen's enemies soon realized the inutility 
of such a forgery. That is why, on October 8, 
Pache, Chaumette, and David, accompanied by 
several satellites, repaired to the Temple. They 



104 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

interrogated Madame Royale and overwhelmed her 
with insidious and ambiguous questions, hoping, 
by so doing, to force her to say something which 
they could use against the queen Her mother's 
executioners, however, were completely discoun- 
tenanced by the calm innocence of the young 
princess. After a seance lasting three hours, the 
details of which would make one recoil with 
horror, Madame Royale was taken back to her 
chamber. While passing the door of her brother's 
room she caught sight of the child, and ran forward 
to clasp him in her arms ; the cruel Simon roughly 
tore him away. 

Madame Elisabeth was then forced to descend. 
They repeated in her presence all the infamous 
accusations with which they had assailed the queen. 
Like her niece, she defended herself in a few brief 
and truthful sentences, worthy of a pure-minded 
woman. 

This seance^ which posterity will never cease to 
execrate, infuriated the regicides ; they now saw 
that they would be obliged to have recourse to 
Hebert's proce s-verbal. 

In this examination, invented solely in order 
to blacken the character of the queen, whom the 
regicides, after having tormented in every conceiv- 
able manner, now wished to kill, they made a child 
of ten years of age declare that the princesses had 
corresponded with foreign Powers, and had con- 
cocted, together with several municipal officers. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 105 

sundry counter-revolutionary plots. This examin- 
ation concluded with the monstrous atrocities 
quoted by their author, that villain Hebert, in 
the presence of the jurymen, or rather the queen's 
assassins ; not one of the judges of the Tribunal 
rivoluthnnaire dared to ask to see this calumnious 
document. 

The queen did not deign to reply to this fiendish 
accusation ; one of the jurors w^ished to make her 
ansv^er. She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly, 
with a dignified air, she turned towards the auditory, 
and, in a voice trembling with emotion, uttered 
these words : " If I have not replied, it is because 
nature refuses to reply to such an accusation when 
made to a mother. I appeal to all mothers here 
present." She spoke to furies, and those furies 
could only reply with tears. 

A few days after this attack upon the queen's 
honour, Chaumette " impressed " upon the Conseil 
general de la Commune how " absurd " it was to 
keep in the prison of the Temple " three indi- 
viduals " who were only a burden to the community 
and extremely expensive. At his request the 
Conseil general agreed that its members should 
go in a body to the Convention and demand that 
the prisoners in the Temple should be sent to 
the common prison and treated like ordinary 
prisoners. 

The Comite de Salut public immediately sent 
for the public prosecutor and pointed out to him 



106 THE KING WHO NEVER KEIGNED 

the consequences of such a proceeding ; this project, 
therefore, was never put into execution. 

The members of the Commune then wished to 
indict Madame EHsabeth, or rather to deHver this 
new victim, now fallen from earthly splendour, to 
their accomplices, the executioners. 

Notwithstanding all their researches, the muni- 
cipal officers could find neither document nor 
pretext enabling them to carry out their abomin- 
able project. But, aided by Simon and his wife, 
they invented a scheme equal in atrocity to 
Hebert's horrible machination. 

Accordingly, on December 3, 1793, the com- 
missaries of the Commune drew up a proces-verbal, 
in which, thanks to the infamous Simon, the poor 
ill-treated child's name appeared for a second time. 
In this document, which would be revolting were 
it not so absurd, the two princesses imprisoned in 
the Temple were accused of " forging assignats^ 
and of corresponding and plotting with sundry 
unknown persons." The commissaries added 
that : " After these disclosures, they had carefully 
searched the prisoners' apartment, but that they 
had found nothing which could cause any uneasi- 
ness. . . ." This denunciation appeared so absurd 
to the Conseil general that it dared not pursue the 
accusation. 

As we have already seen, the gaolers and 

1 Assignat : paper-money issued in 1789, the value of which 
varied according to the national funds. — Translator's note. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 107 

commissaries had never ceased to torment the 
unhappy prince. The queen, who guessed from 
whence came such perfidious suggestions, with 
one word reduced these pretended disclosures to 
their proper value. The president of the 'Tribunal 
revolutionnaire ^ in his examination, quoted other 
so-called revelations. " It is very easy," replied 
the august mother, " to make a child of eight 
years of age say what one wishes it to say." 

This unfortunate sovereign, foreseeing that her 
calumniators would again make use of this fearful 
expedient, expressed her fears in the following 
touching and sublime letter or testament written 
by her own hand on the morning of her death : 
" I must speak to you of a certain subject, though 
it is extremely painful to me to do so. I know 
that this child must have grieved you : forgive 
him, my dear sister, remember how young he is, 
and how easy it is to make a child say what one 
wishes it to say, even though it may not understand 
the meaning of its words." 

An impenetrable veil covers the events which 
took place during the young prince's lonely sojourn 
in the Temple. On January 19, 1794, he was 
given into the charge of the commissaries by 
Simon, who, weary of ill-treating the child, asked, 
it was said, to be allowed to return to the Conseil 
general, of which he was a member. The vic- 
tim's patient resignation had vanquished his cruel 
tormentor. 



108 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

After Simon's departure the king's misfortunes 
changed, but only in kind, for the murderers of 
his family, including Chaumette and Hebert, still 
reigned supreme in the Temple. The smallest sign 
of interest in the prisoner was considered a crime. 

On March 27 it was necessary to renew the 
Commission^ composed of seven members chosen 
from the Conseil general^ and charged to supervise 
the prisoners in the tower. Cressant was proposed : 
several members opposed his election. They de- 
clared that he had shown pity towards the young 
Louis, and that he even knew the names of all 
those who daily mounted guard in the Temple. 
After a long discussion, Cressant was excluded from 
the Conseil^ and marched off to be examined by 
the bureau of police. Having interrogated this 
man, it was discovered that he was by no means 
an ardent revolutionist ; but as no serious proofs 
of his treachery were forthcoming, no further 
proceedings were taken. This exclusion was in 
reality a stroke of good luck for Cressant, because 
it saved him from the scaffold, where, on the 9th 
thermidor^ all the members of the Commune perished. 

While the Conseil general was excluding any 
commissaries who showed pity for the illustrious 
prisoners, the rulers of the Convention were sending 
the Commune's agent, Hebert, and the other leaders 
of this now too formidable faction, to their death. 
Couthon accused them in especial of having 
smuggled letters and money into the Temple in 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 109 

order to facilitate the young king's escape. Before 
very long these tyrants began to disagree among 
themselves, and the stronger party hurried Danton, 
Lacroix, and several other deputies to the scaffold 
as accomplices in a conspiracy (is it possible ?) in 
favour of the re-establishment of monarchy. But 
this reaction proved that royalty was still alive, 
and that France still looked upon Louis XVII as 
her rightful sovereign. The anarchists, tortured 
by remorse, trembled with terror at his name, as 
they themselves had forced the lovers of order to 
tremble at their name ; the royalists, at the sacred 
title of king, felt their courage and hopes revive ; 
the former rendered involuntary homage, the latter 
willing homage to Authority and to the legitimate 
king. 

The Reign of Terror was at its zenith ; the 
illustrious prisoners, more carefully watched and 
guarded than ever, could no longer obtain any 
news of the young king. Madame Elisabeth was 
occupied in cultivating in Madame Royale^s heart 
those sublime virtues which to-day are admired by 
France and the whole universe, when, during the 
night of May 9, they came to tear her from the 
arms of that princess. Overwhelmed with insults, 
the sister of Louis XVI was pushed into a fiacre 
and taken to the Conciergerie ; on the morrow she 
was tried, condemned and executed.-^ 

^ " Among all the victims of the Revolution," says M. de 
Beauchesne {Etudes sur Madame Elisaheth)^ " Madame Elisabeth 



110 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Notwithstanding the ever-increasing danger of 
being suspected of sympathy for the royal family, 

was the purest and the most illustrious." Elisabeth Marie- 
Philippine-Hel^ne de France was born at Versailles, May 23, 
1764. She was the youngest child of Louis XV and of Marie- 
Josephine de Saxe, his second wife. Having been left an orphan 
while still very young, she was brought up in the principles of 
austere piety by Madame d'Aumale and Madame de Mackau ; she 
appeared at court for the first time on the occasion of the marriage 
of her brother Louis XVI, then Dauphin, to Marie-Antoinette. 
" Her gentle blue eyes," says one of her biographers (A. Cordier, 
Madame Elisabeth de France)^ "gave to her countenance an 
expression of sweetness and melancholy which won all hearts to 
her side. A pleasing mouth, dazzling white skin, and dignified 
manners caused her to be remarked in society. . . . Although 
she was not very fond of company, suitors were not scarce. The 
prince of Portugal first came to pay his addresses to her ; the 
matter was already far advanced, when a court intrigue put an 
end to all idea of a marriage for which the princess had displayed 
a certain amount of aversion ; the future king of Sardinia, at that 
time due d'Aoste, was the next suitor ; then the emperor of 
Austria, Joseph H, but lately a widower, expressed his intention 
to marry her." Madame Elisabeth appeared equally indifferent 
to all these projects. "I can only marry a king's son," she is 
reported to have said, " and a king's son must dwell in and rule 
over his father's dominions j I should then no longer be a French- 
woman, and I do not wish to lose my nationality." She was 
seldom seen at court ; the charming residence at Petit-Montreuil, 
given to her by Louis XVI in 1781 [Revue de Phistoire de 
Versailles., I904)> had more charms for her than all the splendours 
of Versailles. During the summer months she could be seen 
there any day, happy in her retreat, far from all intruders. Her 
time was spent in pious devotions or in deeds of charity. Rural 
occupations were also very popular, and at Montreuil, as at 
Trianon, there was a dairy with cows and a Swiss cowherd. The 
rest of her time was spent in visits to the Maison de Saint-Cyr or 
to Madame Louise, who lived at Carmel. Madame Elisabeth was 




MADAME ELISABETH 
At the age of Ten, 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 111 

faithful agents continued to make plans, often 
thwarted, often betrayed, to restore the throne to 

seldom seen in the royal circle ; her piety was shocked by her 
sister-in-law's love of frivolous society. She much preferred her 
own friends, Mile, de Causans and Mile. Angelique de Mackau, 
for whom she found husbands : the former married M. de 
Raigecour and the latter the marquis de Bombelles. With these 
two friends she exchanged the charming letters lately published 
by the comte dc Fleury. However, the events which happened 
outside her own little world did not leave Madame Elisabeth 
utterly indifferent; for in 1786 she began to see more of her 
brother, over whom she quickly obtained great influence. Already 
opposed both by birth and by education to the new political 
opinions then apparent in nfiany quarters, Madame Elisabeth's 
most sacred feelings were wounded by the religious policy of the 
Assemhlee constituante. In her counter-revolutionary zeal she even 
surpassed Marie- Antoinette, who, broader-minded and less bigoted, 
was better able to meet the inroads of modern ideas. So it was 
not her fault if the king did not take severe measures to stamp out 
sedition. " We are lost," we read in one of her letters, " if the 
king is not energetic enough to cut off two or three heads." 
When Louis XVI decided to repair to the Assemblee nationale^ 
February 4, 1790, he met with much opposition from his sister. 
"I consider that civil war is necessary," wrote she, about this 
time. "... Anarchy will never cease without it ; the longer 
it is delayed, the more blood will be shed." Neither her brother 
nor her aunt could persuade her to leave her post. " As for me, 
I have sworn never to leave my brother, and I shall keep my 
vow." (Letter of May 29, 1789.) 

From October 5 until August 10 she shared the royal family's 
anxieties and dangers ; and when the doors of the Temple closed 
upon them, biographers show us Madame Elisabeth at the king's 
side reading to him, working with her needle with Marie- 
Antoinette, encouraging the royal family in the midst of trials, 
which by her obstinacy she had, perhaps, helped to bring down 
upon their heads. 

She received the last farewell of Louis XVI on January 20 



112 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the king. One of the most active and persevering 
of these agents was, no doubt, the baron de Batz, 
a former member of the AssembUe constituante. 

1 793 ; and on August 2 of that same year she bade adieu to 
Marie-Antoinette. In the following October, while the queen's 
trial was in progress, Hebert and Chaumette made her undergo the 
odious examination whereby they wished to prove that Marie- 
Antoinette had debased the Dauphin. After the queen's departure, 
the commissaries of the Commune kept her, together with Madame 
Royale, confined in an unfurnished kitchen in the Temple. On 
May 9, 1794, she was transferred to the Conc'iergerie ; for it had 
been discovered, during Marie-Antoinette's trial, that the comte 
de Provence and the comte d'Artois frequently corresponded with 
their sister, and received advice and money, including large sums 
realized from the sale of her diamonds, from her. The sentence 
was passed on the morrow ; twenty-three other prisoners, includ- 
ing Madame de Senozan, sister of Lamoignon de Malesherbes, 
five members of the de Brienne family, Madame de Montmorin 
and her son (Campardon, Tribunal rkvolutionnaire^ vol. i, p. 318) 
appeared with Madame Elisabeth before the tribunal. Besides the 
above-mentioned offences, Fouquier-Tinville declared that she had 
shared in all the plots and conspiracies concocted by her infamous 
brothers and by the villainous and shameless Marie- Antoinette ; 
she had been seen by the queen's side at the banquet of the king's 
bodyguards ; with her own hands she had dressed the wounds of 
the guards injured in the fray which followed the banquet in the 
Champs Elysees ; then, on August 10, she had taken an active part 
in the struggle between the patroits and the tyrants' satellites, and, 
in her blind zeal, she had helped the people's enemies by providing 
them with shot ; finally, she had done homage to the little Capet, 
and had kept alive in his breast the hope that he might one day 
succeed his father, and by so doing she had encouraged the 
re-establishment of monarchy. Dumas managed the whole affair, 
which was quickly terminated ; the accused contented herself 
with replying in the negative to all the questions addressed to her. 
Madame Elisabeth was unanimously declared guilty, and con- 
demned to death. She was taken back to her prison, where she 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 113 

If we believe a statement made by Elie Lacoste 
in the name of the Comite de Surete generale before 
the Conventwn, June 13, 1794, the baron de Batz 
was originally a paymaster in the French royal 
army. It was quite certain that, although he was 
denounced for having promised one million /ivres 
to any one who would rescue the queen from the 
Conciergene, he managed to get his denunciators 
arrested, and to remain at liberty during the Reign 
of Terror. According to the above statement, the 

passed the last moments of her life in encouraging her companions 
in misfortune. About four o'clock in the evening, the execu- 
tioner's carts came to fetch the condemned. A horde of madmen, 
uttering imprecations and insults, followed the procession ; Madame 
Elisabeth endured everything with resignation, and occupied her- 
self with preparing for death an old woman who was seated by 
her side. 

At last they reached the place de la Concorde. The sister of 
Louis XVI, being the most guilty, was to be executed last of all : 
she took a seat on the bench placed at the foot of the guillotine, 
and her companions in affliction respectfully saluted her as they 
ascended the scaffold. According to the royalists, Madame 
Elisabeth mounted the steps of the scaffold with a firm step ; 
neither the long wait nor the sight of the bloody corpses could 
shake her courage ; but it was with the deepest emotion that she 
said to the executioner who was taking off her Jichu : *' In the 
name of God, sir, cover my shoulders ! " At last she was 
executed. M. Campardon, however, who was not a royalist, 
gives quite a different account. The long wait (on August 2 
Marie-Antoinette's execution alone had lasted four minutes), the 
dull thud of the knife, which fell twenty-five times in succession, 
the sight of the pools of blood surrounding the scaffold, had been 
too much for Madame Elisabeth ; she swooned while ascending 
the steps of the guillotine, and her body was already motionless 
when it was placed by the executioner on the fatal plank. 



114 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

baron de Batz, the leader of a very cleverly-com- 
bined plot to re-establish monarchy, had chosen 
as his residence a pretty spot called " PErmitage,'' 
adjoining the chateau de Bagnolet, near Charonne. 
It was from this house that the correspondence 
addressed to the absent agents was dated. The 
writers took care to give a varnish of patriotism 
to all their communications ; the real information 
was traced in invisible ink between the lines of 
the most popular newspapers of the day : the 
correspondents, on holding these pages close to 
the fire, were able to read their leaders' orders, and 
to learn either the success of the enterprise then 
in hand, or any delays caused by unexpected 
events. 

Among M. de Batz's first adherents were the 
marquis de Pons, M. de Sombreuil and his son, 
the prince de Rohan-Rochefort, M. de Mont- 
morency-Laval, M. de Quiche, M. de Marsant 
and the prince de Saint-Maurice. 

He himself was finally denounced, but, having 
been warned in time, he was able to escape. The 
above-named worthy persons were not so fortunate ; 
they were arraigned before the bloody tribunal 
with other individuals unknown to them, but who, 
thanks to the injustice current at that time, were 
accused by the reporter, Elie Lacoste, of being their 
accomplices. On June 17, 1794, they were all 
sentenced to death for having endeavoured to re- 
establish monarchy. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 115 

What shall we say of a pretended conspiracy 
attributed to Catherine Theos ? Some commis- 
saries from the Convention had discovered, in the 
palace of Saint-Cloud, a full-length portrait of the 
Dauphin painted by the celebrated Madame Lebrun. 
In a statement invented by the deputy Vadier, 
the latter pretended that this portrait had been 
mysteriously hidden behind a bed, that it was to 
be presented to the Ecole de Droit, near the 
Pantheon, and that it had been concealed in order 
to further a scheme tending to re-establish monarchy 
in the person of the young king. This ridiculous 
story only served to prove that the authors of these 
imaginary conspiracies had exhausted their powers 
of inventing imaginary machinations. 

These different plots, however, furnished the 
tyrants of France with an excuse to make the 
young king's captivity doubly horrible. Two evil- 
faced brigands watched day and night over their 
innocent victim's prison. Who could describe his 
deplorable condition without shedding tears ? He 
dwelt alone in a dark room, which he himself was 
obliged to sweep if he wished to keep it clean : a 
precaution which, owing to bad food and want of 
exercise, he was soon unable to take. His bed was 
never made ; when he got too weak to move, he 
lay on his miserable couch surrounded by filth, 
which his keepers would not take the trouble to 
remove. As his underclothing was hardly ever 
changed, he soon suffered from the consequences 



116 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

of this neglect, and his health became undermined. 
All intercourse with the outside world was for- 
bidden ; he did not even see the hand which pushed 
his wretched food to him through a sort of hole in 
the wall ; he heard no other sound than the rattle 
of bolts. Towards the end of the day, a rough 
voice used to tell him to go to bed, as they did 
not wish to give him a lamp. If only he could 
have enjoyed the blessings of calm repose ! But 
hardly did he fall asleep, when one of the brutal 
keepers, delighted to be able to awaken the prince, 
would imitate Simon's voice and suddenly call 
out : 

" Capet ! where are you ? are you asleep .? " 
" Here I am ! " the child would answer, 
trembling and only half awake. 

" Come here, that I may see you." 
" Here I am ! what do you want with me ? " 
" I want to see you. Now go to bed and be 
quick about it ! " 

Two or three hours afterwards, the other 
brigand would recommence the same game, and 
the child was always obliged to obey. 

My pen almost refuses to retrace such horrible 
scenes ! Completely worn out by this terrible ex- 
istence, and these endless torments, the unfortunate 
prince conceived such a deep hatred for the authors 
of his own and his family's misfortunes, that he 
determined never again to ask for anything, and 
never to reply to any of their questions ; he preferred 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 117 

to suffer from want rather than to be obliged 
to ask the smallest favour of these men, of these 
monsters whom he so thoroughly despised. This 
fact shows us that the reasons alleged by the young 
king's tormentors in order to account for his strange 
silence were absolutely fallacious ; the august child's 
silence, only broken upon certain occasions, proves 
on the contrary that he possessed a kind heart and 
a noble disposition. 

No doubt France seemed less oppressed after 
the fall of Robespierre and his accomplices. The 
lovers of order, ever more numerous, endeavoured 
to re-establish the throne ; but as their leaders were 
then, as always, timid and easily disconcerted, as 
the royalists were still being continually denounced 
before the bloody tribunal, they were obliged to 
act with the greatest circumspection. So France 
had only changed masters ; the new master was as 
anxious as the old one to deprive her of her lawful 
sovereign. The Convention had not undergone much 
alteration ; and Louis XVII, though perhaps less 
subjected to ill-treatment in his prison, received no 
better treatment at the hands of his new masters ; ^ 

^ We find in Barras' Mimoires an account of his visit to the 
Temple after thermidor. We will now quote the text as copied 
from the manuscript by M. Georges Duruy : 

*' The Comite de Salut public warned 'me that a plot had been 
made to rescue the prisoners over whom I had charge in the 
Temple. I repaired thither. I found the young prisoner lying 
in a cradle in the middle of the room ; he was crouched down, 
and it was with great difficulty that I could awaken him ; he was 



118 THE KING WHO NEVEK REIGNED 

for among the regicides there were some who, 
fearing that the provinces would wish to re-establish 

wearing a pair of trousers and a little grey cloth jacket. I asked 
him how he was and why he was not lying in his bed. He 
replied : ' My knees are swollen and they hurt me at intervals (sic) 
when I stand upright ; the little cradle suits me better,' I ex- 
amined his knees ; they were very swollen, as were his ankles and 
his hands ; his face was pale and bloated. After having asked him 
the necessary questions, and having recommended him to take 
some exercise, I gave my orders to the commissaries and scolded 
them for the dirty condition of the room. 

" I then went up to Madame's room j she had dressed early 
and was ready to receive me ; her room was clean. * The noises 
last night probably awoke you ? ' said I to her. ' Have you any 
complaints to make ? Do they give you all you want ? ' Madame 
thanked me, and replied that she had heard the noises in the night; 
she then begged me to take care of her brother. I assured her 
that I had already seen to his interests. 

" I then repaired to the Comiti de Salut public^ and said : * There 
have been no disturbances in the Temple, but the prince is 
dangerously ill. I have ordered his guards to take him out into 
the fresh air, and I have sent for M. Dussault. You ought to get 
other advice, so that his condition may be examined and he may 
receive the care necessitated by the bad state of his health.' The 
Comiti therefore gave orders to that effect." 

The account left by Madame Royale of this visit confirms 
Barras' statement. 

" Such was our condition," she writes, " on the 9th thermidor. 
I heard the drums beating and the clang of the tocsin ; I was 
much frightened. The municipal guards in the Temple seemed 
quite unconcerned. When they brought me my dinner, I did 
not dare to ask what was happening ; at last, on the loth thermidor^ 
at ten o'clock in the morning, I heard a fearful noise in the 
Temple. The guards cried : ' To arms ! ' Drums beat, doors 
were roughly opened and shut. All this commotion was caused 
by a visit from the members of the Assemhlie nationale^ who had 
come to see if everything was quiet. I heard the bolts of my 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 119 

him upon the throne, loudly demanded his removal, 
while the others, foreseeing the support which the 
young monarch would find abroad, considered him 
as a hostage very necessary to their own safety. 
As to the Comites ringleaders, how can we dare to 
write of them ? . . . They watched in silence for 
the success of their barbarous treatment. When- 
ever they mentioned the young king's name in 
their discussions, they continued with one accord 
to designate him in the coarsest, most revolting 
terms. We will refrain from reproducing their 
vituperations. 

For those of our readers who may wish to 
judge of the Conventionnels' perplexity as regards 
the august prisoners' fate, we will quote a few 
paragraphs from a diatribe uttered, September 21, 
1794, by the deputy Duhem. 

" And I also," cried he, " I never cease to ask 
why we allow this rallying-point for the whole 

brother's door being drawn \ I juipped out of bed. When the 
members of the Convention came to my room, they found me 
already dressed ; Barras was among their number. They were in 
full dress, which astonished me, as I was unaccustomed to see them 
thus, and I feared that something was going to happen. Barras 
spoke to me, called me by my name, and seemed surprised to find me 
already dressed. They said several things to me, to which I did not 
reply. They then went away, and I heard them haranguing the 
guards beneath my window, and exhorting them to remain faithful 
to the Convention nationale. Cries were raised of' ' Long live the 
Republic ! Long live the Convention ! ' The guards were doubled, 
and the three municipal guards then on duty in the Temple 
remained at their post for a whole week." 



120 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

aristocracy to exist in our midst ? ... It is absurd 
for a nation, which has had the courage to conquer 
its liberty, to keep in its midst a royal scion, the 
heir apparent to royalty ! . . . But this in itself is 
the act of a sovereign ! It is surely done for a pur- 
pose ! . . . We have two nations in France : the 
royalists and the republicans. You will never 
know peace or safety as long as one of these nations 
continues to disturb the fatherland. . . ." Duhem 
concluded by demanding, in the name of the 
revolutionary government, the expulsion of all 
suspected persons, including the members of the 
royal family. 

One example alone will suffice to prove the 
inconsistency of the anarchists' words and deeds. 
" When it was proposed to readmit to the Assemblee 
certain deputies who had been expelled after the 
events of May 31, Merlin de Douai, at that time 
member of the Comite de Saiut public, asked those 
of his colleagues who had made this proposal : " If 
they wished to open the doors of the Temple .? " 
that is to say, to place the son of Louis XVI upon 
the throne. What connection could there be 
between the child imprisoned in the Temple 
(or those who wished the crown to be restored 
to him), and those deputies who had conspired to 
destroy his father and to banish his whole family .? 
. . . And yet it was thanks to Merlin's interven- 
tion that these deputies were finally readmitted. 
But the document which we are now going to 



MEMOIKS UPON LOUIS XVII 121 

reproduce proves beyond all dispute the Govern- 
ment's intentions concerning the fate of Louis 
XVII. Its importance obliges us to copy it 
word for word : it alone reveals to us the young 
king's real position after the 9th thermidor. 
Mathieu, a member of the Comite de Surete generale, 
said during the seance of December 2, 1794: 

" Citizens, I come in the name of the Comite de 
Surete generale to contradict the calumnious state- 
ment of a royalist which, during the last few days, 
has appeared in the newspapers and has been 
obstinately repeated in a very reprehensible manner. 
In this statement, the Comite is represented as 
having given tutors to the Capet children im- 
prisoned in the Temple, and as having shown 
almost paternal solicitude for their well-being and 
education. 

" Here is the newspaper containing the article 
imprudently copied by the other Periodistes. The 
title of this newspaper is the Courrier universel 
for the 6th frimaire (November 26), edited by 
Nicolle, Poujade and the elder Bertin. It says : 
' The son of Louis XVI will also profit by the 
resolution of the 9th thermidor. We know that this 
child was given into the charge of the shoemaker 
Simon, the worthy acolyte of Robespierre, whose 
punishment he shared ; the Comite de Surete generate^ 
persuaded that, although this child is a king's son, 
he is not utterly unworthy of commiseration, has 
just nominated three commissaries, honest and 



122 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

enlightened men, to replace the defunct Simon. 
Two of these functionaries are to superintend the 
orphan's education : the third is to see that he no 
longer suffers, as in the past, from want of proper 
attention.' 

" The Comite's first duty in order to annihilate 
this fabrication of the royalist party," continued 
Mathieu, " is to present to the Convention a short 
statement explaining the steps taken by that body 
in order to insure the safety and well-being of the 
tyrant's children now in the Temple. 

" Towards the 9th thermidor^ a new keeper was 
placed in the Temple by the Comite de Salut public ; 
the Comite de Surete generale, however, considered 
that one keeper was insufficient. The Parisian 
administrative police was requested to provide a 
staunch republican to fill this post ; having indicated 
a suitable person, the latter was deputed to aid his 
colleague in performing the above important task. 
As certain prejudiced and distrustful citizens might 
feel suspicious of two individuals occupying the 
same permanent post, the Comite decreed that, in 
order to insure the safety of the tyrant's children, 
each of the civil committees of the forty-eight 
Parisian sections should in turn provide a member 
to fulfil, for the space of twenty-four hours, 
the functions of keeper together with the two 
individuals nominated permanently. 

" The Comite considers that such steps are 
absolutely necessary if we wish to deprive this 




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MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 123 

fictitious statement of all appearance of truth and 
prevent scandal-mongers and malevolent persons 
from finding fresh pretexts for complaints or 
disturbances. 

"The Comite de Surete generale has agreed with 
the Comite militaire upon the question concerning 
a military guard for this post, which has been lately 
visited by several representatives ; the two Comites 
are convinced that the service is performed with 
care and precision. 

" We see, by the above statement, that the 
Comite de Surete generale only wishes to fulfil the 
duty confided to its charge ; that it has no intention 
of ameliorating the fate of Capefs children or of 
appointing tutors for them. The Comite and the 
Convention know how to guillotine kings, but they do 
not know how to educate children. 

" If the royalists wished to make themselves 
heard, they would be immediately silenced ; in 
order to reassure the friends of the commonwealth 
and to prevent conspiracies, too often caused by 
weak Governments, the Comite ought to announce 
that it has taken care to defend itself from attacks, 
and that, faithful to its principles, it intends to 
make its laws respected and to prevent any mani- 
festations of perfidious pity for the last remaining 
scions of our tyrants' race and for this orphan child, 
in whose fate many individuals seem to take an 
unjustifiable interest." 

If we needed another proof to show that the 



124 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

murderers of Louis XVI and of his august family 
did not intend to allow their last victim to slip 
through their fingers, we need only consider their 
conduct during the seance of December 28 ! On 
that day, Bentabolle had denounced with much 
vehemence a work entitled : L,e Spectateur frangais 
pendant le Gouvernement revolutionnaire, published 
by M. de Lacroix, formerly a magistrate ; in this 
work a wish was expressed that the nation might 
be consulted individually upon the Constitution of 
1793 in order to remove, as the author said, any 
doubts from the minds of the foreign Powers who 
still seemed to mistrust the genuineness of the vote 
for its acceptance. This clever scheme had been 
invented by M. de Lacroix in order to make the 
people reject the Constitution, and to put them in a 
position to demand their rightful sovereigns if, in 
the future, they wished to return to the old form of 
government. 

After a very stormy debate, Lequinio rushed to 
the rostrum, crying: 

" For several days it has been evident to all 
of our members that the royalists have begun a 
new campaign of malevolence and perfidy. Never 
will you be able to silence the royalists unless you 
deprive them of their last hope : I mean the last 
scion of the tyrants' race. . . . We have already 
demanded the expulsion 'of this child. I now 
demand that your governing committee shall take 
steps to provide you with the means by which 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 125 

to purge the land of liberty of the only remaining 
vestige of royalty." 

All France, forsooth, would have approved of 
any measures which, while temporarily depriving 
her of the presence of her young king, would have 
saved the young prisoner from his terrible fate, 
and would, no doubt, have preserved this precious 
life. 

Hardly had Lequinio uttered this speech, of 
which we have been obliged to omit divers 
flagitious expressions, when the arrogant rulers of 
the Convention ordered the petition to be referred 
to their committees ; urged by all parties to express 
an opinion upon this oft-reiterated motion, they 
announced that the discussion of this important 
question should commence on the morrow of the 
fatal anniversary. 

At last, on January 22, 1795, Cambaceres, in 
the name of the three united committees, viz. the 
Comites de Salut public, de Surete generate, and de legis- 
lation, made the following statement : " Hitherto 
prudence has forbidden us to treat of this matter; 
to-day circumstances force us to discuss it, not only 
in order to baffle guilty hopes, but to ascertain once 
for all the nation's opinion. We have little to fear 
by keeping the members of the Capet family in 
captivity; if we banished them, we should be doing 
a very dangerous thing." Therefore Cambaceres 
proposed to pass to the order of the day concerning 
the liberation of the Bourbons still imprisoned in 



126 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the Temple. His advice was adopted almost 
without discussion. The regicides soon reaped the 
horrible harvest of their abominable machinations. 
The royal child's condition now became so serious 
that the municipality of Paris thought it necessary 
to inform the Comite de Surete generale, and sent to 
that body, during the month of February 1795, 
commissaries charged to announce the fact that 
" the prisoner's life was in imminent danger." 
The commissaries were questioned as to the 
nature of that danger ; they replied that the 
young prince's joints, and especially his knees, 
were much swollen, that he always wanted to sit 
or to lie down, and that he refused to take any 
exercise; they added that they could not make 
him utter a single word: that his refusal to take 
any exercise and his obstinate silence dated from 
October 5, 1793, the day when the two scoundrels, 
Hebert and Simon, had made him sign the horrible 
examination already mentioned by us; the com- 
missaries were sure that this was the cause of his 
extraordinary behaviour. 

Having heard this statement, the Comite de Surete 
g^nerale nominated H. Harmand, deputy for the 
Meuse, one of their members who shared in the 
management of the Parisian police department, 
to go to the Temple in order to verify the 
above facts, take provisional measures, and give 
an account of everything concerning the State 
prisoners. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 127 

Let us now leave M. Harmand to speak for 
himself.^ 

" I sincerely wished to go to the Temple," says 
he, " but as I had not voted for the king's death, and 
as revolutionary opinions were all-powerful at that 
time, I hesitated; I knew well enough that if, on 
my return from the Temple, I drew up a statement 
favourable to the illustrious prisoners, both I and 
they would probably suffer for it ; so, as I was 
incapable of making false statements, I asked that 
some members of the Comite might accompany 
me. 

" MM. Mathieu and Reverchon, both members 
of the above committee, were nominated ; and I 
hope that what I am now going to say will not 
offend them. 

" Unfortunately circumstances over which I 
had no control prevented me from noting the 
exact date of our visit to the Temple, but here 
are the facts : 

" We arrived outside the door behind whose 
dreadful bolts and bars the innocent son, the only 
son of our king, our king himself, was imprisoned. 

" The key grated noisily in the lock, and we 
beheld, through the open door, a small but clean 
ante-room without any furniture except an earthen- 
ware stove communicating with an adjoining room 
by a hole in the wall ; this stove could only be lit 

^ The tone in which this statement is written is justified 
by the fact that it was published in 1814. 



128 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

from the ante-room ; the commissaries told us that 
this precaution had been taken in order to prevent 
the child from playing with the fire. 

" The other room belonged to the prince, and 
in it was his bed ; the door was locked outside 
and had to be opened ; the noise of the keys 
and bolts made a deep impression upon me — an 
impression only rendered more painful by time. 

" The prince was seated in front of a little 
square table covered with playing-cards, some of 
which had been bent into the shape of little boxes, 
while others had been used to build card-houses ; 
he was busy with these cards when we entered, 
and he continued to play with them during the 
whole of our visit. 

" He was dressed in a new slate-coloured sailor 
suit ; his head was bare. The room was clean 
and well lighted. 

" The bed was composed of a wooden bedstead 
without any curtains ; the blankets and sheets 
seemed clean and of good quality. This bed was 
behind the door to the left on entering ; further 
on, on the same side, at the foot of the first bed, 
was another wooden bedstead without any bedding; 
a door between these two beds communicated with 
another room, into which we did not go. 

" The commissaries informed us that this bed 
had belonged to the cobbler Simon, who, before 
Robespierre's death, had been placed by the muni- 
cipality of Paris in the young prince's room in 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 129 

order to wait upon, and to take care of, him. We 
know with what atrocious barbarity this monster 
performed his duties. 

" We know that this scoundrel revelled in 
being abie to disturb his prisoner's slumbers ; that, 
heedless of the fact that sleep is absolutely neces- 
sary to children of his tender years, Simon would 
awaken him several times during the night by 
calling out : 

" ' Capet ! Capet ! ' 

" The prince would reply : 

" ' Here I am, citizen.' 

" ' Come nearer that I may see you,' replied 
his tutor. 

" The lamb approached. The execrable tor- 
mentor would then thrust his leg out of bed, and, 
kicking him wherever he could reach him, would 
fell his victim to the ground, crying : 

" ' Go to bed, whelp ! ' 

" Oh Heavens ! could divine vengeance be 
appeased by the death of those two monsters, 
Simon and Robespierre ? / 

" The above narration has already been pub- 
lished, but I reproduce it here because it was 
related to us by the commissaries. I shudder 
whenever I think of it. 

" Having heard these frightful preliminary 
details, I went and stood by the prince's side ; he 
did not appear to notice our presence. I told him 
that the Government, having learnt too late of the 



130 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

bad state of his health, of his refusal to take any 
exercise and to reply to their questions concerning 
his condition, as well as to the suggestion that he 
should take some remedies and allow a doctor to 
examine him, had sent us to see him, so that we 
might verify these facts, and repeat to him, in the 
name of the said Government, all their offers of 
assistance ; that we hoped that these offers would 
be agreeable to him, but that we should make bold 
to take upon ourselves to give him advice, and 
even expostulate with him, if he persisted in keep- 
ing silent and in refusing to take any exercise ; 
that we were authorized to allow him to extend 
his walks, and to provide him with all the toys and 
amusements which he might desire ; I then begged 
him to vouchsafe some reply. 

" While I was addressing this little speech to 
him he sat quite still, staring at me, and apparently 
listening with the greatest attention, but not a 
word did he answer. 

" I then repeated my offers, as if I thought that 
he had not heard me, and I particularized in the 
following terms : 

" ' Perhaps I did not properly explain my 
meaning, or perhaps you did not hear me, sir ; but 
I have the honour to ask you whether you would 
like a horse, a dog, some birds, or any other sort 
of plaything, or one or more companions of your 
own age whom we would introduce to you before 
placing them in your room ? Would you like to 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 131 

go into the garden now, or to walk on the tower ? 
Would you like some sweets or some cakes ? ' 

" In vain I mentioned everything a child of his 
age could possibly desire : not a word of reply did 
I receive, not even a sign or a gesture, although his 
head was turned towards me and he stared at me in 
a most strange manner, as if everything was utterly 
indifferent to him. 

" Then assuming a more decisive tone, I 
ventured to say : ' Sir, such obstinacy at your age 
is an unpardonable fault ; it is all the more extra- 
ordinary because the object of our visit, as you see, 
is to improve your condition, to procure for you 
the care and attention necessary to your well-being. 
How can you expect us to succeed if you always 
refuse to answer and to say what you would like ? 
What else can we do ? Have the goodness to tell 
us what you desire and we will comply with your 
requests.' 

" He still stared at us, but not a word did he 
utter. 

" I began again : ' If your refusal to speak, 
sir, only compromised your own interests, we would 
wait, not without pain but with more resignation, 
until it pleased you to speak, because we should 
then be able to hope that your position was less 
painful to you than we first thought it to be, since 
you do not seem to wish to change it. But you 
are not master of your own actions. Your 
attendants are responsible for your person and for 



132 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

your condition : do you wish to compromise them ? 
do you wish to compromise us ? For what reply 
can we give to the Government of which we are 
the representatives ? Kindly answer, I beg of you, 
or we shall be obliged to command you to do so.' 

" Not a word, always the same strange stare. 

" I and my colleagues were in despair ; that 
strange look was so resigned, so indifferent ; it 
seemed to say : ' What does it matter to me ? dispatch 
your victim I ' 

" I repeat, I could do no more. My heart 
was heavy with remorse, I was ready to shed 
bitter tears; but I recovered my equanimity after I 
had paced up and down the room two or three 
times. I determined to try what effect a tone of 
command would produce ; so I placed myself quite 
close to the prince's right hand, and said : ' Sir, 
kindly give me your right hand! He held it out. I 
passed my hand along his arm towards the armpit. 
I felt one tumour on the wrist and another on the 
elbow ; these tumours did not seem to be painful, 
for the prince did not shrink at my touch. 

" ' T^he other hand, sir! He immediately held 
it out ; there were no tumours on that arm. 

" ' Allow me to feel your thighs and knees, sir I ' He 
stood up. I felt similar excrescences both above 
and below the knee-cap. 

" The young prince, when standing upright, 
looked not only as if he was deformed, but as if he 
was suffering from rickets ; his legs, thighs and 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 133 

arms were very long and thin; his bust was short ; 
he was chicken-breasted, and his shoulders were 
high and narrow ; his head was very handsome in 
every way, the complexion clear though colourless, 
the hair light-brown, long, fine and well kept. 

" ' Now^ sir, have the goodness to walk a few paces! 
He obeyed'at once, went towards the door separating 
the two beds, and then came and sat down again. 

" ' Do you call that taking exercise, sir ? Do you 
not see, on the contrary, that this indolence alone is 
the cause of your illness and of the diseases with 
which you are threatened ? Have the goodness to 
trust in our experience and good-will. You can 
only hope to recover your health by yielding to our 
requests and by following our advice. We are 
going to send a doctor to see you, and we hope that 
you will kindly reply to his questions. Show us, at 
least, that by so doing we shall not displease you.' 

" Not a sign, not a word. 

" ' Sir, have the goodness to walk again, and a little 
farther this time! 

" Silence and refusal ; he remained seated in his 
chair with his elbows upon the table ; his expression 
did not alter for a single moment ; there was not the 
slightest trace of any emotion, not the slightest sign 
of astonishment in his eyes ; it was just as if we 
were not there, as if I had not spoken. I remarked 
that my colleagues were silent. 

" We looked at each other in surprise, and we 
were just about to approach nearer to each other in 



134 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

order to compare notes, when one of the com- 
missaries entered with the king's dinner. 

" We then witnessed another and a still more 
painful scene, which, unless one had seen, one could 
not believe. 

" His dinner was composed of a blackish soup 
with a few lentils floating on the surface, served 
in an earthenware porringer ; on a plate of the 
same crockery was a small piece of very tough- 
looking boiled beef ; a second plate contained more 
lentils, and on a third plate were six chestnuts, more 
burnt than baked ; a pewter spoon and fork were 
placed by the side of the porringer; the commissaries 
told us that the Conseil de la Commune had ordered 
that the child was on no account to be allowed to 
use a knife ; there was no wine. 

" And this was the dinner of the son of Louis 
XVI, the descendant of sixty-six kings! Such was 
the treatment accorded to this innocent child ! 

" Ah ! who could endure such a sight ? For 
we must remember that he was a king's son, a king 
himself, an innocent victim, thus cruelly forced to 
eat food only fit for his poorest subjects ! 

" While the illustrious prisoner was finishing his 
wretched repast, I and my colleagues endeavoured, 
by our looks of horror, to make the commissaries 
understand our astonishment and indignation ; in 
order to spare the prince a painful scene, I signed 
to these men to leave the room before reprimanding 
them as they richly deserv^ed. We then told them 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 135 

what we thought of their conduct ; they repeated 
their assertions, declaring that they had acted in 
obedience to orders given by the municipality, and 
that matters had even been worse before their time. 

" When in the ante-room, we commanded that 
this execrable state of affairs should be altered in 
future, and that they should immediately begin to 
add some dainties, and especially fruit, to his daily 
fare. I wished them to get him some grapes, 
which were scarce just then. 

" An order to that effect having been given, we 
re-entered. He had eaten everything. I asked 
him if he had enjoyed his dinner. No reply. 
Would he like some fruit ? No reply. The 
grapes were soon produced, and placed upon his 
table ; he ate them in silence. We asked him if 
he would like some more. No reply. 

" We then saw that all our efforts were useless, 
and that we should never get him to answer us. I 
told him what we intended to do. I assured him 
that we were deeply grieved, because we could only 
attribute his silence to the fact that we had dis- 
pleased him ; I added that we should therefore 
recommend the Government to appoint other 
commissaries, whom perhaps he would like better. 

" He stared at us, but made no reply. 

*' ' Would you like us to go away, sir ? ' No 
reply. 

" Having said this, we left the room ; as the 
first door was locked, we were obliged to wait in 



136 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the ante-room for a quarter of an hour, mutually 
questioning one another upon what we had just 
seen and heard, and exchanging our remarks and 
opinions upon the young prince's bodily and mental 
faculties. 

" Thanks to the above exact though abbreviated 
narration, every one can and will, no doubt, make 
the same reflections and the same remarks which 
we ourselves made, and which I shall refrain from 
repeating. 

" I have explained the cause of the prince's 
obstinate silence as quoted by the commissaries. 
When in the ante-room, I asked them if this 
strange silence really dated from the day when, 
forced to yield to barbarous violence, he was made 
to sign that odious and ridiculous declaration. . . . 
They repeated their assertions to that effect. 
Connoisseurs of human nature must draw their 
own conclusions from this heart-breaking anecdote. 

" Is it possible that a child of nine years of age 
could make and keep such a resolution ? Such a 
case is not very probable ; but to those who doubt 
or deny the probability, I will reply by quoting 
certain facts and evidence which all my readers can 
verify for themselves. 

" Before leaving the prince's ante-room, I and 
my colleagues agreed that, for the honour of the 
nation, then in utter ignorance of the cruel truth ; 
for the honour of the Convention, equally ignorant, 
but whose duty it was to learn the real facts of the 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 137 

case ; for the honour of the municipality of Paris, 
the authors of all these evils, we should content 
ourselves with ordering provisional measures (which 
were immediately executed), and that we should 
make no public statement, but hold a private meet- 
ing with the Comite — this meeting took place soon 
afterwards." 

Why did they take all these precautions ? What 
did this guilty silence mean ? 

M. Harmand tells us that he was sent on a 
mission soon after his visit to the Temple ; he was 
therefore unable to see that his orders for the 
amelioration of the child-king's fate were carried 
out. 

Would one not expect that the strict orders 
given by this deputy and by the Government's 
representatives would have been obeyed, and that 
means would have immediately been taken to 
alleviate the august invalid's sufferings ? But it 
was not so ; three months passed before this 
unfortunate child received any attention ; three 
months : that is to say, just long enough to 
destroy all chance of a cure. The monsters had 
voted the father's death in public ; they plotted 
the son's death in secret. 

Let us return to M. Harmand's narration. 

Our readers will have probably observed that 
the secret statement presented to the Comite was 
not couched precisely in the above terms. Would 
M. Harmand have dared to use, in the presence of 



138 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the murderers of Louis XVI, such expressions as : 
" the innocent son, the only son of our king, our 
king himself," and divers other expressions observed 
in his statement ? 

But the strangest thing in this strange statement 
is the manner in which M. Harmand insists upon 
the fifteen months' feigned silence of Louis XVII, as 
well as the cause to which he attributed it — which 
cause, he considered, fully explained the young 
prince's refusal to reply to the questions made to 
him by the commissaries from the Comite de Surete 
generale. 

But we are quite convinced that the young 
king, well aware of the identity of the persons to 
whom his family owed their misfortunes, could 
never have regarded with aught but contempt 
and horror the Conventiofjnels and members of the 
Commune, with the exception of a few individuals 
who for many months had been unable to com- 
municate with him. So he naturally vouchsafed 
no reply, other than that expressive look to his 
keepers and to the authors of his misfortunes : 
" What does it matter to me ? Dispatch your 
victim / " . . . The isolation, the utter destitu- 
tion in which he had been left during the last 
year of his existence, must have made the martyr- 
child determine to keep his heroic resolution. 

The cause of the prince's silence, as alleged by 
the commissaries, was fallacious ; for if his silence 
really dated from October 5, the date of that 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 139 

monstrous examination, how was it that the child 
consented to sign the odious declaration made in 
the following month of December ? These allega- 
tions were therefore untrue. Modern historians 
have proved that the scoundrels deceived the child 
in order to make him sign the paper (which he 
was not allowed to read) containing the so-called 
examination. And finally — we are obliged to con- 
fess it — would the brutal Simon, during his three 
months' office as gaoler to the young Louis, have 
tolerated any obstinate silence or reproachful looks 
from his unhappy prisoner ? The municipal guards 
evidently thought that the above assertions would 
prevent the public from suspecting that the child had 
included his keepers in his righteous indignation. 

After having written the above lines, we sub- 
mitted them to Dr. Nauroy for his approval. This 
lover of truth and devoted partisan of the Bourbon 
cause desired to verify our remarks. In his eager 
search after truth he has ever displayed zeal and 
ardour well worthy of this splendid cause. Having 
consulted reliable evidence, he informed us that the 
reasons given by the commissaries in order to ex- 
plain the young prince's silence were absolutely 
false ; that the royal child had never ceased to 
converse with all those who approached him, and 
that his silence could only date from the day when 
he was condemned to suffer complete isolation. 

The victories won abroad by the brave French 
soldiers had not, however, reassured the tyrants 



140 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

who ruled over France, and who were terrified by 
the success of the Vendeens. Some members of the 
Convention^ chosen from among those who had not 
voted for the king's death, were charged to begin 
negotiations with the leaders of the Catholic and 
royal armies. The chevalier de Charette and his 
companions in arms, having exhausted their supply 
of ammunition, cleverly profited by this occasion 
in order to negotiate with the commissaries from 
the Comites de la Convention^ and to conclude with 
them, if not a treaty of peace, at least an armistice. 
All hostilities having ceased on both sides, the 
royalists flattered themselves that the young king 
and Madame Roy ale would eventually be delivered 
into their charge. Several persons even declared 
that shortly before the death of Louis XVII the 
Comite de Salut public had treated with the leaders 
of la Vendee, and had promised to deliver into their 
hands the heir to the crown and his august sister 
before June 1 5 at the latest. These same persons 
went so far as to say that M. Desotteux, baron de 
Cormatin, major-general of the Catholic and royal 
army of Brittany, had been honoured by a com- 
mand to go to Paris and to fetch the precious 
offspring of Louis XVI. 

But the faction which had overthrown Robes- 
pierre, in whose crimes it had often shared, the 
faction which had hidden its misdeeds behind a 
mask of moderation, had less cause to fear the 
fierce tyrant than any event which might restore 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 141 

power to its legitimate masters. The rulers, fearing 
such a contingency, and well aware of the Ven- 
deens' position, instead of delivering the young 
king into the hands of the champions of religion 
and royalty, prolonged his martyrdom and his 
sister's tortures. The faithful M. Hue, having 
learnt that Louis XVII was in a very bad state of 
health, begged the Comite de Surete generate to allow 
him to be shut up with the young prince, that he 
might take care of him. His request was refused, 
under the pretext that the child was being properly 
tended by the commissaries then on guard vn the 
Temple ! 

It was not until the month of May, and after 
several other persons, having learnt of the young 
king's deplorable condition, had made repeated 
requests, that the Comite s decided to send the cele- 
brated Desault to see him.^ This honest surgeon, 

1 Pierre Joseph Desault, like Pelletan, bore the title of surgeon- 
in-chief to the Grand Hospice d* HumanitS (formerly the Hotel- 
Dieu). He was born February 6, 1744, at Magny-Vernois, near 
Lure, where his parents, who owned some property, had him 
educated. Having completed his studies at the Jesuit College of 
that town, he was first destined to the Church. But a marked 
vocation for natural science obliged his father to send him to the 
military hospital in Belfort, where for three years he studied 
surgery and the art of dressing wounds. On coming to Paris in 
1764, he profited so well by his professors' instructions that, two 
years later, he was able to begin a course of lectures upon anatomy. 
He was attacked about this time by a severe illness, caused by over- 
work and the petty persecutions of his jealous rivals. In 1776 he 
obtained admission to the College de Chirurgiej thanks to a clever 
thesis in which he extolled a new method for operating in diseases 



142 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

after having thoroughly examined the sick child, 
told them that they had waited too long to send 

of the bladder ; his success was so extraordinary that he was 
allowed, in consideration for his want of means, a certain delay in 
which to pay the heavy entrance fees. By an unprecedented 
favour he was nominated professor of anatomy at the Ecole 
pratique before he had been admitted to the College de Chirurgie, 
The Acad^mie de Chirurgie soon nominated Desault first as surgeon 
to the Hopital de Saint-Sulpice (now the Hopital Laennec) in the 
rue de Sevres, and then to the Hopital de la Charitk (1782). 
Three years later, on the death of Ferrand, he was given the 
reversionary post of surgeon-in-chief at the Hotel Dieu ; a short 
time afterwards, the death of the incumbent, Moreau, placed him 
at the head of the staff of surgeons in that hospital. He profited 
by this occasion in order to open a school for clinical surgery, and 
inaugurated, notwithstanding numerous protests, the practice of 
performing operations in the dissecting-room for the purpose of 
instructing the students. Bichat, one of his pupils, left in a well- 
known pamphlet a very complete account of all his master's 
surgical discoveries. 

The Revolution did not interrupt the labours of Desault, who 
was nominated member of the Conseil de Santi in 1792 by 
Servan. This event, notwithstanding his devotion to the com- 
monwealth, as proved by his numerous gifts to the nation, drew 
down upon his head the animosity of Chaumette, who accused 
him in public of having refused to tend the wounded on August 
10. After having been twice summoned to appear at the bar 
of the Commune^ Desault was arrested on May 28, 1793, while 
giving a lecture in the operating theatre of the HHel Dieu^ and 
imprisoned in the Luxemburg. He was liberated three days later 
by the Comitk de SuretS gMrale. This mishap did not discourage 
him, and on leaving the prison he immediately returned to the 
Hotel Dieu and recommenced his lectures upon surgery, which were 
the only ones which had not been suppressed. After the 9th ther- 
midor^ the Comiti d* instruction publique nominated him professor of 
clinical surgery at the Ecole de Santi^ but lately established ^ he then 
conceived the plan of installing a clinical surgery close to the Hotel 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 143 

for him, and that, owing to the lamentable state of 
the child's health, a cure was almost impossible. 

Dieu in the building of the bishop's palace. But the events of the 

1st pr atrial altered all his plans ; once again he began to fear for 

his personal safety. These new trials were too much for his health, 

already undermined by overwork, and he expired, after a short 

illness, in the arms of his friend Chopart, in the beginning of June 

1795. Strange reports began to circulate after Desault's sudden 

demise. It was said that he had been summoned to the Temple by 

Barras, shortly after the 9th thermidor, and that he had been unable 

to recognize, in the dumb, sickly child who was then shown to 

him, the Dauphin whom he had seen a few years before, robust and 

full of life and spirits, " The child has been abducted ! " he is 

reported to have said with an oath. They probably feared that he 

would tell tales. He was invited, when he gave his report, to dine 

with the Conventionnels ; and it was said that he was taken with 

sudden sickness on returning to his home, and death quickly 

ensued. Dr. Cabanes wisely remarks that all these facts seem very 

improbable. Neither Bichat nor any lOther of Desault's biographers 

knew anything about this dinner. However, Desault's widow, 

his niece (Madame de Calmet), his pupils, and Drs. Adouls and 

Abeill6 affirmed and maintained, in spite of contrary evidence, 

that the unfortunate doctor had been poisoned. The France 

medicale for August 25, 1905, even thought their evidence worthy 

of reproduction. And yet in M. de la Sicotiere's work, Les faux 

Dauphins, Paris, 1882, we find a clever refutation of this report. 

Why should the Thermidoriens have wished to poison the surgeon 

of the Hotel Dieu F Because, having poisoned the Dauphin, they 

wished his secret to perish with him ? Such a crime would have 

been useless : isolation and sequestration would have finished the job 

unaided. Because, on the contrary, Desault had refused to poison 

the Dauphin ? We cannot believe that such a suggestion could 

have been made to Desault, who, as a royalist, was well known for 

his pronounced political opinions. Because he had noticed that 

another child had been substituted in place of the Dauphin ? 

Why should they have waited for a month before getting rid of 

this dangerous witness ? All these theories are improbable and 



144 THE KING WHO NEVER KEIGNED 

He proposed to send the invalid into the country, 
where, with proper treatment and great care, the 
august child might perhaps recover his health, if 
not permanently, at least for a few years. 

The Comites refused to do anything. However, 
Desault determined to do his best to improve the 
royal prisoner's pitiable condition. The prince 
was extremely grateful to the surgeon for his kind 
care, and proved his gratitude by allowing the 
doctor to do whatever he liked with him, and by 
conversing with him instead of keeping silent as 
he had latterly done in the presence of both gaolers 
and commissaries. When the latter came to an- 
nounce that Desault's visit was nearly at an end, the 
august child, eager to detain his kind doctor, yet 
unwilling to ask his keepers to prolong the visit, 
used to seize the flap of M. Desault's coat in his 
little hand. On leaving the Temple the honest, 
kind-hearted Desault, with tears in his eyes, would 
repeat all the young prince's sayings and requests 
to M. Nicolle and other intimate friends. 

Desault died suddenly on June i of that same 
year. A search was made after his death for any 
notes concerning his visits to the sick prince, but 
none were ever found. 

On June 5, M. Pelletan,i surgeon-in-chief to 

inconsistent. Tlie post-mortem examination of Desault's body 

made by Corvisart points to death from cerebro-spinal meningitis, 

or from typhoid-fever ; there is no mention of death from poison. 

^ Philippe Jean Pelletan was born in Paris, May 4, 1 747. His 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 145 

the Grand Hospice^ and M. Dumangin, doctor-in- 
chief to the Hdpital de Sante, were nominated to 

parents being very poor, it was only at the cost of the greatest 
privations that he was able to complete his studies. In order to 
obtain the necessary books, which he could not afford to buy, he 
was obliged to give lessons in anatomy to his companions. He 
won his diplomas under Moreau at the Hotel Dieu^ and taught for 
some time at the College de Chirurgie. The Convention having 
declared that the Fatherland was in danger, Pelletan left the hospital 
and went to the camps, where he became surgeon-major first in the 
Armee des Pyrenees^ and then in the Armee du Nord. On returning 
to Paris, he soon obtained a position worthy of his talents. He 
had just been nominated surgeon-in-chief to the Grand Hospice de 
PHumanite (as the Hotel Dieu was called at that time) when he 
was summoned to make a post-mortem examination upon the little 
dead child in the Temple. 

Pelletan was a member of the Acad^mie de Chirurgie^ the Legion 
d^Honneur^ and the newly-established Institut. And yet he was 
neither happy nor wealthy ; he was very eloquent (his pupils called 
him the " Chrysostom of Surgery"), a skilful operator, and a great 
philanthropist ; but his timid, nervous disposition ruined his career, 
and he was constantly being supplanted by his rivals and even by 
his pupils. Although it was he who had instituted the Ecole de 
perfectionnement^ celebrated throughout France, it was Antoine 
Dubois who reaped all the glory. Pelletan was unable to obtain 
the post of surgeon-in-chief to the emperor, which post was 
given by Corvisart to Boyer ; he could not, notwithstanding 
his great desire, obtain the title of baron of the Empire. The 
reorganization of the corps savants by the Restauration was another 
blow. After occupying successively the posts of professor of surgery, 
operations and obstetrics, he was deprived in 1823 ^^ ^oth post and 
salary in consequence of a riot among the medical students. So, 
after thirty years of teaching and forty years of practice, this unfor- 
tunate man, deserted by his patients, was reduced at seventy-seven 
years of age to live upon the meagre salary accorded to him as 
member of the Institut. (See Isidore Bourdon.) Although Pelletan, 
like most surgeons of his time, contributed largely to the 
10 



146 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

attend the young prince in place of the defunct M. 
Desault. These physicians, Hke Desault, confessed 

renovation of his art, he wrote very little ; he published in 1810 a 
Clinique chirurgicale in three volumes, a somewhat superannuated 
epitome of an art in which he had already been surpassed by his 
pupils. His name is only remembered on account of his partici- 
pation in the post-mortem examination made upon the child who 
died in the Temple. 

We know that Pelletan declared that he had succeeded in 
slipping into his pocket the heart of Louis XVII, wrapped in a cloth. 
However, he could not convince Louis XVHI, who preferred to 
believe the assertions of Lasne and Dumangin, two eye-witnesses 
of the post-mortem examination, and refused to accept any relics. 

Thanks to articles in the Nouvelle Revue retrospective (1894), 
and rintermMiare des chercheurs (1895), we can follow the history 
of this heart up to the present day. Pelletan, whose offer was 
repulsed by the king, having vainly applied to the duchesse 
d'Angouleme ; to Decaze, minister of justice ; to the keeper of the 
seals, Pasquier ; and even to the minister of war, the comte de 
Clermont-Tonnerre, thought that he might be more successful 
with the archbishop of Paris. Monseigneur Quelen consented to 
receive the heart as a deposit in trust, and endeavoured to persuade 
Charles X to accept it. It was proposed that the king should 
" deposit the heart beneath the chancel of Notre Dame in the 
same spot where the entrails of Louis XUI and Louis XIV were 
buried. A grand mass was to be celebrated in the mother church. 
If this proposal did not please the king, the heart was to be 
deposited with the same ceremony in the church of Sainte- 
Genevi^ve, close to the altar of Saint-Louis, or even in the vault 
of the church of Saint-Louis." 

All these plans having fallen through, the heart of Louis XVII 
was enclosed in a crystal casket adorned with a crown of gilt fleurs- 
de-lis. It was still in the archbishop's residence when that building 
was pillaged in 1831. A workman named Lescrocart found it in 
the cardinal's library, together with documents testifying to its 
authenticity, and thought it his duty to carry it to the son of 
Pelletan, for the latter had died in 1829. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 147 

that it was useless to try and save this valuable 
life, the royal prisoner being so exhausted that they 
could do nothing for him except endeavour to soothe 
his last moments. 

These doctors blamed the municipal guards 
because they had not removed the bars which 
darkened the windows of his prison, as well as the 
enormous bolts whose rattling still reminded the 
innocent victim of the torments endured by him, 



While he was carrying it to his residence, it was wrested from 
him by some of the rioters, and he was only able to deliver the 
documents into Philippe Pelletan's charge. The latter, however, 
was fortunate enough to find the heart, which he recognized by 
the strong smell of alcohol in which it had been preserved, lying 
under a heap of gravel. Dr. Corlieu [Mart des rois de France) 
tells us that Philippe Pelletan endeavoured on several occasions to 
persuade the comte de Chambord to accept his relic ; he died in 
1879 without having succeeded. The heart remained in the hands 
of Pelletan's heirs until 1886, when M. de Maille gave into the 
care of Don Carlos " a crystal casket containing a heart reduced 
by age to the state of crumpled parchment, and which he declared 
to be the heart of Louis XVII." This gift caused a perfect explosion 
of virulent protests on all sides ; the prince de Valori, although he 
was a faithful supporter of Don Carlos, agreed with Louis XVIII, 
Charles X, and the duchesse d'Angoul^me. On the other hand, 
the " due de Normandie," NaundorfF's son, loudly protested against 
this " new burlesque of history." The physicians S6e, Mathias, 
Duval, Tillaux, and Laborde, declared with one voice that the 
question as to whether this heart had or had not belonged to Louis 
XVII was insoluble. Be this as it may, the relic, after many 
vicissitudes, now reposes in the chapel of the Castle of FrohsdorfF, 
beside the blood-stained fichu worn on the scaffold by Marie- 
Antoinette, and some thorns from the crown of thorns in the 
Sainte-Chapelle. 



148 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

which torments had reduced him to such a hope- 
less condition. While M. Pelletan was loudly- 
expressing his opinion upon this subject, the young 
prince signed to him to come nearer, and begged 
him to lower his voice. " I am afraid," said he, 
" that my sister may hear you ; and I should be 
very sorry if she were to learn that I am ill, because 
it would grieve her very deeply." This little act 
of thoughtfulness is another proof of the prince's 
gentle, loving disposition. MM. Dumangin and 
Pelletan caused the prisoner to be carried into the 
concierge's parlour, the windows of which looked 
into the garden. 

The sight of the sunshine and green trees seemed 
to soothe the august invalid. He endeavoured to 
show his gratitude ; unable, owing to his great 
weakness, to speak except in monosyllables, he still 
tried to smile at his doctors. 

On June 7 the king had a fainting fit, which 
made his attendants fear that the end was near, and 
that these prophetic words would soon be realized: 

" My strength is exhausted, my days are cut 
short, and the tomb alone remains for me." 

On June 8, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the 
unfortunate Louis XVII gave up the ghost. 

On the morrow, the deputy and regicide, 
Sevestre, who, on April 13, 1794, had said that 
" this child would never come of age," made to 
the Convention, in the name of the Comite de Surete 
generale, the following statement : 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 149 

" Capet's son had been suffering for some time 
from swellings on the right knee and on the left 
wrist. 

"On the \^t Jioreal (April 20) the pain in- 
creased ; the invalid lost his appetite, and fever 
appeared. The famous medical officer, Desault, 
was summoned to examine him and prescribe for 
him. We knew that this person would make use 
of all his talents and powers and endeavour to 
improve his patient's condition. 

"However, the prince's illness 'became more 
serious. On the i6th of this month (June 5) 
Desault died ; the Comite then nominated the 
citizen Pelletan, the celebrated medical officer, 
and the citizen Dumangin, physician-in-chief to 
the Hopital de Sante^ to replace him. 

" The above-named physicians issued yesterday, 
at eleven o'clock in the morning, a bulletin an- 
nouncing that disquieting symptoms had appeared, 
and that the invalid's life was in imminent danger ; 
at a quarter-past two o'clock in the afternoon we 
received the news of the death of Capet's son. 
The Comite de Surete genirale charged" us to inform 
you of that event, which has been verified." 

On June 10, two days after the death of 
Louis XVII, the commissary of police for the 
Section du Temple^ accompanied by two civil com- 
missaries, repaired, in obedience to a command 
received from the Comite de Surete generale^ to the 
tower of the Temple at half-past eight o'clock at 



150 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

night, in order to remove his Majesty's body. 
They found it uncovered ; it was placed, in their 
presence, in a w^ooden coffin and immediately con- 
veyed to the cemetery belonging to the parish of 
Sainte-Marguerite in the faubourg Saint-Antoine.^ 

1 The acte de dech witnessed by the municipality according to 
the deed drawn up by the commissaries of police for the Section du 
Tempky the 22nd prairial^ was discovered by M. de Beauchesne 
among the archives at the Hbtel-de-Ville and published by him. 
It says : 

The twenty-fourth prairial of the third year of the Republic. 

Acte de dech of Louis-Charles Capet, on the 23rd of this month, 
at three o'clock in the afternoon, at the age of ten years and two 
months, a native of Versailles, in the department of Seine et Oise, 
residing in Paris, in the towers of the Temple, in the section du 
Temple^ son of Louis Capet, last king of the French, and of Marie- 
Antoinette- Josephe-Jeanne of Austria. 

By a declaration made at the Town-hall by Etienne Lasne, 
aged thirty-nine years, keeper of the Temple, residing in Paris, rue 
et section des Droits de l^Homme^ No. 48, and by Remy Bigot, aged 
fifty-seven years, employe, residing in Paris, vieille rue du Temple, 
No. 61, a friend of the above-named Etienne Lasne. 

This certificate was witnessed by Dussert, commissary of 
police in the aforesaid section, on the twenty-second of this month. 

Signatures : 
Pierre-Jacques Robin (public officer), 
Lasne (commander-in-chief, section des Droits de PHomrne), 
Bigot. 

On June 10, Dominique Goddet and Laurent Arnoult, civil 
commissaries for the Section du Temple^ repaired, in obedience to an 
order given by the Comite de Surete generate^ to the Temple, ac- 
companied by Pierre Dufour, commissary of police for that section. 
Lasne and Gomin, the keepers of Louis XVII, and Joseph Gu6rin, 
civil commissary for the Section de V Homme arme^ showed them the 
corpse of a male child of about ten years of age, which was lying 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 151 

Hardly was the news of the death of Louis 
XVII known, when a number of persons hastened 

upon a bed, and which they identified as the corpse of Louis- 
Charles Capet. 

We learn, besides, from one of the commissaries, Gu6rin, who 
left an account published in the Revue des questions htstoriques^ that 
rumours of an escape having been circulated upon several occasions 
in Paris, additional precautions were taken. " Before proceeding 
to inter the body, the keepers, in order to gather round them a 
large number of witnesses to the identity of the child whom they 
were about to bury, invited the two commissaries of the Section du 
Temple and the entire military staff then on duty in the tower to 
assist at this ceremony of identification ; those of their number 
who recognized the son of Louis Capet were requested to certify 
to that effect and to afiix their signatures. They all recognized 
him and signed the Temple register." 

On June 12, at half -past eight o'clock at night, two civil 
commissaries and the commissary of police for the Section du 
Temple repaired to the tower of the Temple in order to remove 
the body of Louis XVII, as commanded by the Comiti de SHreti 
generate. They found it uncovered ; it was placed in their 
presence in a wooden coffin and immediately conveyed to the 
cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, in the rue du faubourg Saint- 
Antoine, where it was interred. The Comite de Surete gknhale 
caused the procession to be escorted by detachments of infantry 
{Moniteur^ du 26 prairial^ June 14, 1795). 

M. Lucien Lambeau has made a special study of the question 
of the Dauphin's burial, {he cimetiere de Sainte-Marguerite et la 
sepulture de Louis XVll^ i vol. in 8vo, Daragon, Paris, 1905). 
Having carefully considered the divers researches made at various 
times in order to discover the remains of the Dauphin, he tells us 
of the unsatisfactory results obtained therefrom. 

We gather from this excellent work and its valuable documents 
that the Dauphin died in the Temple, that he was buried in the 
common grave in the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, and that 
Louis XVIII was quite justified when he said, " that, as he knew 
that his nephew was dead, and as he was familiar with even the 



152 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

to declare that a slow poison, served up in a dish of 
spinach, had shortened the unhappy prince's life ; 
they cited numerous motives apparently justifying 
such suspicions. 

These persons reminded the public that the 
report made by the representative M. Mailhe, in 
the name of the Comite de legislation, upon the trial 
of Louis XVI, finished with this bloodthirsty 
sentence : 

" This child is at present innocent ; he has not 
had time to share in the iniquities of the Bourbons. 
You must weigh his fate with the interests of the 
Republic. You must decide this important ques- 
tion so ably expressed by Montesquieu : ' Even in 
states where liberty is most highly esteemed, the 
laws are sometimes transgressed. And I confess,' he 
adds, ' that it seems to me that there are times and 
occasions when liberty must perforce be veiled, as 
the statues of the gods were veiled in olden times.' " 

These persons remembered that the Deputy 
Chabot had loudly declared that " it was the 
apothecary's business to rid France of Capet's son," 
and that, some time after the 9th thermidor, B rival, 
the worthy colleague of the above-named Con- 
ventionnels, had reproached the Comite de Salut public 

smallest details of his demise as well as with all the Revolutionaries' 
hidden machinations, he thought it unwise to open the door to 
doubts and suppositions by ordering researches to be made which 
every one could foresee, as events have since proved, would be 
useless. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 153 

for having committed many unnecessary crimes and 
for not having consummated that particular one. 

We v^ill leave our readers to judge for them- 
selves of a work upon this subject v^hich appeared 
about that time. The anonymous author, after 
having apostrophized Tallien for his conduct in 
the most virulent terms, says (page 1 69) : " If 
your cheeks are not bedewed with tears as you 
read this article, if your heart is not galled by 
repentance . . . you are not a man. . . . Then, 
deaf to all else but righteous indignation, I shall 
unveil the frightful picture of the past, I shall tell 
on what spot, at what hour, and by what monsters 
that fatal draught was prepared, and how this 
innocent victim expired in the Temple ! " . . . 
Lastly, many persons, astonished at Desault's 
sudden death, spread a report that he had been 
poisoned because he had refused (at least, so they 
said) to countenance the criminal designs made 
upon the person of the son of Louis XVI. This 
opinion was confirmed by the equally sudden death 
of the chemist Choppart, who, together with his 
friend Desault, had been appointed to prescribe for 
the young invalid, and lastly by the death of that 
unfortunate prince, who, as we have already seen, 
soon followed his two physicians to the tomb. On 
June 9, the day of his death, MM. Dumangin and 
Pelletan, accompanied by MM. Jeanroy and Lassus, 
proceeded, in obedience to an order received from 
the Comite de Surete generale^ to open the body of 



154 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Louis XVII. The proces-verbai of this operation, 
which they quite forgot to date, was drawn up by 
M. Pelletan, who kept the original document in 
his own possession. This careful and circum- 
stantial post-mortem examination of the child-king's 
body, made by men celebrated for their talents and 
probity, would seem to dismiss any suspicion of 
poison. Desault does not appear to have suspected 
any crime. Although he left no notes upon the 
treatment prescribed by him for the Dauphin, at 
least he gave a verbal account of that treatment. 
We read in the Essals histortques sur la revolution de 
France^ by M. Beaulieu : " While journalists were 
endeavouring to prejudice public opinion against a 
form of government incompatible with our morals, 
customs, and above all with our characters, death 
deprived the royalists of the one person considered 
by many people, including several revolutionists, 
capable of drawing France from the abyss into 
which she had fallen ; the unhappy son of Louis 
XVI ended his sad and innocent existence in the 
prison of the Temple. . . . The misery, the state 
of neglect in which he had been left, after having 
been lovingly tended and carefully guarded from all 
ill, had completely ruined his constitution. A 
report, still credited by many persons, was cir- 
culated for some time that this unhappy child had 
been poisoned ; this mystery will probably never 
be entirely elucidated. All I know is that the 
famous surgeon Desault, whose acquaintance I 




PELLETAN. 
Doctor to Louis XYII. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 155 

made in prison, told me, during one of my visits 
to him, that he did not believe in this report ; but 
as M. Desault himself, as well as the apothecary 
who provided the remedies, died shortly afterwards, 
public opinion asserted that they had been sacrificed 
in order to insure secrecy. I repeat what M. 
Desault, who apparently was speaking the truth, 
told me. 

" However, as M. Hue remarks, it was not for 
any feelings of humanity that they refrained from 
committing this crime. In fact, it would have 
been less cruel to poison the child-king than to 
make him endure the slow and painful martyrdom 
of neglect and isolation to which he was subjected 
during several months, and which alone caused his 
death. The monsters who tyrannized over France 
at that time, and who were well aware of the lively 
interest displayed by the public in the young 
prince's fate, were too cautious to jeopardize their 
popularity and power by making him die a violent 
death. They thought it less dangerous to compass 
the ruin of his mental faculties by terrorism and 
to wear out his bodily force by ill-treatment. ' If 
by chance,' said they, ' the Parisians ever march, 
during some popular disturbance, to the Temple 
and endeavour to proclaim Louis XVII king, we 
will show them a wretched brat whose stupid 
countenance and general air of imbecility will 
soon force them to relinquish any plans for placing 
him upon the throne.' " 



156 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Louis XVII was the fourth victim cut down in 
the space of two years by the revolutionary scythe. 
Monsieur was deeply grieved on learning of the 
lamentable end of the young king, his nephew. 

Louis XVIII, as heir to the throne by right 
of birth as well as by the laws of the kingdom, 
announced his accession to the divers European 
Powers. To the French nation his Majesty 
addressed a proclamation which M. Crappart, 
formerly editor of the Ami du roi^ hastened to have 
printed in Paris and distributed all over France. 

On July 4, his Serene Highness, the prince de 
Conde, announced the sad event to his army in the 
following proclamation : 

" Gentlemen : hardly have the unfortunate 
Louis XVI, his august companion and their 
venerable sister descended to the tomb, when 
we behold the stone rolled back in order to 
restore to these illustrious victims the interesting 
object of our tender affection, of our hopes and 
of our respect. The young scion of so many 
kings, in whose veins ran the blood of Henri IV 
and Marie-Therese, whose birth alone seemed to 
promise happiness and prosperity to his subjects, 
has just succumbed beneath the weight of heavy 
fetters and a cruel fate. 

" This is not the first time that I have been 
obliged to remind you that in France we hold 
that ' the king never dies ! ' Let us swear, then, 
to the august prince who to-day becomes our king, 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 157 

to shed the last drop of our blood to prove our 
measureless fidelity and blind submission, together 
with that undying affection which we owe to him 
and which fills our souls. 

" We will now demonstrate our wishes by 
uttering that heartfelt cry so natural, in its deep 
significance, to all true Frenchmen, that cry which 
has ever been the presage as well as the reward of 
your victories, and which the regicides can never 
hear without astonishment and remorse. 

" After having invoked the God of mercies for 
our lost king, we will now pray the God of battles 
to prolong the days of the king whom He now 
gives us, and to establish the crown of France upon 
his head by means of victories, if need be, yet 
rather, if it be possible, by his subjects' repentance 
and by a blessed reign, of peace, mercy, and justice. 

" Gentlemen, king Louis XVII is dead : 

" Long live king Louis XVIII ! " 

The king having at last recovered his sceptre, 
one of his first deeds, after attending to the interests 
of his kingdom, was to search for the martyred 
members of his family. 

During the jealous usurper's reign a faithful 
Frenchman, M. Olivier Descloseaux, had carefully 
guarded the precious remains of Louis XVI and 
Marie-Antoinette. When they were restored to 
the nation, France showed, by her grief and 
veneration, all her heartfelt remorse for the 
cruel crime perpetrated by her unworthy children. 



158 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

These remains were transferred to the royal church 
of Saint-Denis, the burial-place of our kings. 

The last and youngest martyr of this unfortunate 
family was not forgotten in this pious act of repara- 
tion. His Majesty, in the month of February, 
1816, ordered that the mortal remains of the king, 
his august nephew, were to be sought for, disinterred, 
and transferred to the church of Saint-Denis. 

Providence had watched over the child-king's 
remains as it had watched over those of the authors 
of his being. Providence caused two humble grave- 
diggers to mark with white chalk the coffin con- 
taining these relics before placing it in the common 
grave in the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite, so 
that they might be able to identify it if necessary. 
Besides this precaution, the two grave-diggers took 
care to keep the Dauphin's coffin apart from the 
other coffins. Sentries were placed for five or six 
nights outside the cemetery gate lest any one might 
wish to steal the body of Louis XVII. But when 
the sentries had departed, the two grave-diggers 
removed the coffin from the common grave and 
placed it in a separate grave already prepared, 
close to the door leading from the church to the 
cemetery. They added, as a second distinguishing 
mark, a cross formed of a number of little pebbles. 
One of the grave-diggers is still alive, and his 
evidence is confirmed by his comrade's widow, 
who had also learnt the secret. 

Certain persons declare that the mortal remains 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 159 

of Louis XVII were not all confided to mother 
earth, but that the heart of this affectionate and 
sensitive child will one day become an object of 
homage and veneration. We submit to our readers 
the following private information obtained by us 
upon this important subject. 

The Comites de la Convention had given a special 
order that their victim's body was to be placed in 
the common grave. M. Pelletan, one of the 
surgeons who assisted at the opening of the body, 
having been informed of this fact, profited by a 
moment of inattention on the part of his col- 
leagues in order to save the young king's heart 
from the grave. On reaching home, he placed it 
in a crystal casket on which were engraved the 
letters L. C, the monogram of Louis-Charles ; the 
cover was adorned with seventeen stars arranged 
in the form of a crown surmounted by a gilt 
fleur-de-lis. 

Be this as it may, thanks to information already 
obtained upon the above facts, and the inquiries 
which will soon be made, we may hope to discover 
and to identify, in an authentic and solemn manner, 
the precious remains of Louis XVII. 

The Chambre des Pairs and the Chambre des 
Deputes hastened, in the name of all France, to 
participate in the ceremonies of expiation organized 
by the king's command. On January 17 and 18 
these two chambers unanimously adopted a law 
stating that a monument should be erected in the 



160 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

name and at the expense of the nation as an 
atonement for the crime committed January 21, 
1793, and adding (Article IV) : 

"That another monument shall be erected in the 
name and at the expense of the nation, to the 
memory of Louis XVII, the queen, and Madame 
Elisabeth." 

Lastly, two ordinances given by the king's 
hand, January 19 and February 14, 18 16, enjoined 
the completion of the Church of the Madeleine 
in the faubourg Saint-Honore, in which he wished 
to place the expiatory monuments now being 
executed. M. Lemot, one of our most celebrated 
sculptors, has been commissioned to execute the 
mausoleum of Louis XVII. Among the inscrip- 
tions consecrated by M. Belloc to the memory of 
the royal victims of the ferocious revolutionists, 
we find one dedicated to the young king ; it com- 
bines, according to the opinion expressed by a 
learned critic : " all the elegance of ornate design 
and the inappreciable merit of pure and genuine 
affection seldom found in monumental inscriptions." 

MEMORIAE . ET . CINERIBUS 

LUDOVICI XVII 

QUEM 

PARENTIBUS SANCTISSIMIS 

INFANDO FUNERE ORBATUM 

NULLAS . NON . AERUMNAS . PERPESSUM 

IN . IPSO . FERE . VITAE . LIMINE . MORS . SUSTULIT 

DIE VIII JUNII AN . M.DCC.LXXXXV 

VIXIT . ANNIS . X . MENSIBUS II . DIEBUS XII. 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 161 

LUDOVICUS XVIII 

FECIT 

FRATRIS . FILIO . DULCISSIMO 

AC . SUPRA . AETATIS . MODUM . PIENTISSIMO 

SALVE . ANIMA . INNOCENS 

QUAE . CEU . AUREUM . GALLIAE . SIDUS 

BEATO . SPATIARIS . POLO 

VOLENS . HANC . PATRIAM . DOMUMQUE . BORBONIDUM 

PLACIDO . LUMINE . INTUETOR. 



IN MEMORY 

OF 
LOUIS XVII 
WHO, 
AFTER HAVING BEHELD HIS ILLUSTRIOUS PARENTS 
SWEPT AWAY BY A DEATH 
WHICH SORROW REFUSES TO RECOUNT 
AND AFTER HAVING DRAINED TO THE VERY DREGS 
THE CUP OF ADVERSITY, 
WAS, WHILE STILL YOUNG, 
AND ALMOST ON LIFE's THRESHOLD, 
CUT DOWN BY THE SCYTHE OF DEATH. 
HE DIED JUNE VIII M.DCC.LXXXXV. 
HE LIVED X YEARS, II MONTHS, AND XII DAYS. 

LOUIS XVIII 

ERECTED THIS TOMB 

TO THE WORTHY SON OF HIS BROTHER 

A WELL-BELOVED CHILD 

PIOUS BEYOND HIS YEARS. 

HAIL, PURE AND INNOCENT SOUL, 

WHO, LIKE UNTO A RADIANT STAR, 

DOST WANDER THROUGH CELESTIAL REALMS, 

DEIGN TO BESTOW ONE GLANCE, 

ONE GLANCE OF LOVE, 

UPON FRANCE AND UPON THE BOURBONS, 

II 



162 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

History finds naught to relate of the policy and 
government of Louis XVII ; but we shall ever 
regret his promising disposition, and his budding 
virtues. History, however, will publish to the 
whole world his unexampled misfortunes. Its 
stern pen will terrify posterity with the picture of 
the cruelties, the barbarous treatment endured by 
the child-king and by other Frenchmen, during 
those long and painful months of agony, at the 
hands of madmen, the usurpers of legitimate 
power. Already the example of the many evils 
caused by anarchy has borne fruit among other 
nations, partners in our affliction, and will, no 
doubt, be of use to us who were the eye-witnesses 
or victims of those dissensions ! May this terrible 
lesson preserve our descendants from the love of 
innovations, from impious governments and from 
revolutionary frenzy ! Having escaped the perils of 
those horrible times, and the disasters into which 
we had been led by blind and ambitious madmen, 
let us bring the tribute of our gratitude, of our 
veneration, of our love to the king who, by his 
great virtues, has reconciled us with so many nations 
jealous of our glory, and whose love and paternal 
solicitude will finally win peace and happiness to 
our side.-^ 

^ Was the child who was treated by Desault and Pelletan and 
who died in the Temple really the Dauphin ? " No," reply the 
partisans of the theory of evasion ; " about that time another child 
was substituted in his place, and it was this child who died in 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 163 

the Temple." In order to prove this assertion, they produced 
three letters which, if they were authentic, would prove that 
a twofold substitution had taken place. They declared that, 
in the beginning of November 1 794, a dumb child had been put 
in the Dauphin's place, and that the latter had been hidden in the 
attics of the Temple ; they also said that, between February 5 
and March 3, 1795, this dumb child had been replaced by another 
child who was wasted by consumption, who would soon die, 
and be buried as if he had been the Dauphin himself. What is 
the real value of these three letters attributed to Laurent, one of 
the commissaries in the Temple, letters which no one has ever 
seen, and of which even the naundorffistes only possessed copies ? 
It is impossible, in historical matters, to credit documents which 
cannot be produced, and which, as no one can prove the existence 
of the originals, are only apocryphal. We publish them, however, 
because we think that, by so doing, we may discover how and 
why they were concocted. 

In 1 8 14, Harmand de la Meuse published the account, repro- 
duced by us, of his visit to the Temple in obedience to a command 
given by the Convention^ in order to ascertain the condition of the 
French royal children and to see if their regime had been ameliorated 
according to the instructions received after Barras' visit of inspec- 
tion. During Harmand's visit, the date of which he omitted to 
mention, he was struck by the fact that the Dauphin refused to 
speak and that, although he looked very fixedly and very attentively 
at his visitors, he made neither sign nor gesture in reply. Naun- 
dorff's friends got hold of this story, and declared that the child 
was dumb ; they knew that it was useless to assert that the poor 
little child, stupefied by isolation, and unable to forget Hebert's 
examination and Simon's insults, had determined never to speak 
again. They saw that they could turn this story of a dumb child 
to good account, and they took care to profit by this opportunity. 
It was quite possible that the Dauphin did hold out his hand and 
did walk when he was ordered to do so, but might he not have 
acted thus because he understood the gesture which accompanied 
the command although he did not understand the command itself? 
In order to carry out this substitution the child must perforce be 
dumb. They need only invent a document stating the existence 
in the Temple of a dumb child on that particular date. Harmand's 



164 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

narration would confirm such an assertion. So the first letter was 
produced. 

After many variations, the naundorffistes declared that B. signified 
Botot, Barras' secretary j the letter was said to be addressed to 
Frott6. 

General, 

Your letter dated the 6th of this month arrived too late ; 
your first plan had already been carried out, the moment had 
come in which to act. To-morrow a new keeper is to enter on 
his functions ; he is a republican named Commier, a good fellow 

according to B (Botot), but I myself have no confidence in 

such people. I shall find great difficulty in getting food to our 

p (prince), but I shall take good care to get him out of that 

cursed tower. B (Botot) told me that he himself could under- 
take nothing on account of the strict supervision. If he had to 
remain very long I should fear for his health, for there is very 
little air in his oubliette^ where the good God Himself could not 
find him were He not all-powerful. He has promised me to 
perish rather than betray his hiding-place. I have good reason to 
believe him. His sister knows nothing ; prudence obliges me to 
speak to her of the little dumb child as if he were really her brother. 

However, the unhappy child thinks himself very lucky and 
plays his part so well that the new guards are convinced that he 
does not wish to speak ; so there is no danger. 

Send back the faithful bearer as soon as possible, for I need 
your help ; follow the advice which he will give you by word of 
mouth, for it is the only way to insure success. 

Tower of the Temple, November 7, 1794. 

But this letter was not enough. The child having died 
June 8, they produced a second letter, in which it was asserted 
that another substitution had taken place, that of a sick child in 
place of the Dauphin. 

General, 

I have just received your letter. Alas ! your request is 
impossible. It was very easy to get the victim upstairs ; but just at 
present it is not in our power to get him down again, for the 
supervision is so strict that at one time I thought that my secret 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 165 

had been betrayed. The Comiti de Sureti ginhale had, as you 
already know, sent those monsters, Mathieu and Reverchon, to- 
gether with M. H. de la Meuse (Harmand), to prove that the 
dumb child was really the Dauphin. General, what does this 
farce mean ? I cannot divine it, and I no longer know what to 

think of B 's (Botot) conduct. He wants to get the dumb child 

out of prison, and to put another child in his place. Have you 
heard about it ? is it not a trap ? General, I fear many things, 
for no one is allowed to enter our dumb child's cell for fear that 
the public may discover the substitution. For if some one were to 
examine the child carefully, that some one would soon discover 
that the child was dumb from his birth and therefore incapable of 
speech. But if they substitute another child in place of this one, 
the new substitute will surely speak and so both I and the nearly- 
rescued child will be lost ! 

Send your written opinion by our faithful bearer as soon as 
possible. 

Tower of the Temple, February 5, 1795. 

A third letter was necessary, for they had to prove that the 
second substitution had succeeded ; of course this letter was forth- 
coming, and here it is : 

General, 

Our dumb child has been transferred to the palace of the 
Temple, where he is carefully hidden : he is to remain there, and 
in case of any alarm he will pass for the Dauphin. To you alone, 
general, does this victory belong. I am now quite reassured, so 
command and I will obey. Lasne can take my place whenever 
he wishes to do so. Many precautions have been taken to insure 
the Dauphin's safety ; therefore I shall soon appear, and I will tell 
you the rest by word of mouth. 

Tower of the Temple, March 3, 1795. 

As we see, they claim that, although no correspondence exisited 
with Laurent, these three letters really did exist and contained 
everything necessary, that is to say : all the facts necessary to prove 
the theory of a twofold substitution but nothing else. These letters 
were couched in the plainest terms and in intelligible language, 
just at a time when it was dangerous to write any letters whatever, 
when many a head was lost for a mere suspicion. Even if the 



166 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

originals could have been produced, it would have been necessary 
to prove their authenticity beyond all dispute, if they wished to 
convince the public once and for all. Historians versed in the art 
of historical criticism agree that documents, only copies of which 
can be produced and which claim to solve all mysterious sides of a 
question, are probably forgeries. 

Besides, even if we acknowledged that these letters were ot 
historical value, for the naundorffistes really believed in their cause, 
what do they prove ? Every one already knew that many attempts 
had been made to rescue the king, then the queen, and lastly the 
Dauphin from the tower of the Temple : these letters only prove 
that one of the last attempts was approved by Barras, but we 
cannot even ascertain if that approbation was genuine, or if Barras 
only meant to make fun of the royalists by delivering a false 
Dauphin into their hands. It would not have been the first time 
that he had duped them. We know that promises to save the 
Dauphin's life were often made to the royalists, and that they were a 
very paying concern. Such schemes, though the object may change, 
still exist. In our own time, fatherland and faith have often been 
saved from ruin by great sacrifices. These letters, therefore, could 
only prove that there had been a twofold attempt to substitute a 
child, but they could not prove that the Dauphin had been able 
to escape from the Temple. Besides, they do not prove that the 
dead child, upon whose body a post-mortem examination had been 
made, was not the Dauphin. Thanks to M. Begis' researches, 
the numerous proofs of the corpse's identity are now irrefutable. 

When the health of Louis XVII became seriously affected, 
Desault, the celebrated physician, a thoroughly honest fellow, 
formerly doctor to the royal children, was appointed to prescribe 
for him. On the occasion of his first visit, the i8M pra'irial^ an 
III {M.^.Y 7, 1795), he observed on the young invalid's joints the 
same tumours which had already been remarked by Harmand and 
Barras. He continued his visits twice and even three times a day ; 
the unhappy child always seemed glad to see him, and, under his 
doctor's kind care, consented to break the iron rule of silence 
caused by seveil months of isolation (January 8, 1 794-July 30, 1 794). 
Desault died June i, 1795 {^Z^h pra'irial^ an HI)., after an illness 
caused by a malignant fever lasting ten days, and which had 
already been fatal to two of his colleagues, doctors like himself, at 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 167 

the Hospice de V Humanite. His colleague and friend, Pelletan, 
was appointed on June 5 (17^/? prairial) to replace him. This 
physician had often accompanied Desault on his visits, and had 
even taken his place during his illness. 

As the child only seemed to be getting w^eaker, Pelletan asked 
on the igth prairial thsLt Dr. Dumangin, physician-in-chief to the 
Hospice de la Charite^ might be allovv^ed to help him. On the 
20th prairial he paid his usual visit. The sick child was much 
weakened by chronic diarrhoea, but he showed his gratitude to 
Drs. Pelletan and Dumangin for their kind care ; he seemed quite 
resigned to death. 

He succumbed that same day, 20th prairial^ an HI (June 8, 
1795). Pelletan, having been sent for in great haste, could only 
declare that all was over. Gomin, one of the keepers, had gone 
to the Comite de Surete generale to deliver the physicians' daily 
bulletin ; but the other keeper, Lasne, and the commissary 
Damont, president of the Comiti civil for the section du faubourg 
du Nordy on duty that day in the Temple, were present during 
the last moments of the son of Louis XVI. 

Gomin, having learnt what had happened, immediately re- 
turned to the Convention. The seance was over ; so the members 
of the Comite de Surete generale told him to keep the matter secret 
until the morrow, and at once made him write a letter in which 
they acknowledged the receipt of his information and begged him 
to tell the two medical officers charged to prescribe for Capet 
during his illness, to appoint two of their most learned colleagues, 
so that the body might be opened and its condition ascertained. 

Dumangin and Pelletan chose Lassus, professor of forensic 
medicine and formerly surgeon to Madame Victoire and to Louis 
XVI, and Nicolas Jeanroy, professor at the Ecole de MMecine. 
M. Begis tells us that the post-mortem examination was made in 
the presence of Lasne, Gomin, the commissary Damont (who had 
assisted at the last moments of the young invalid), Meunier, Gourlet 
and Baron, turnkeys. All these persons had known the Dauphin 
at different periods of his existence ; they expressed no doubts as 
to the identity of the corpse opened in their presence by the above- 
named physicians. The proces-verbal of this post-mortem examina- 
tion is preserved at the Archives Nationales. The naundorffistes 
found fault with the wording of this document, which, however, 



168 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

is in order and properly worded. If the doctors declared that they 
had opened a body which " they were told " was the body of 
Louis XVII, it was because such was the custom in those times ; 
likewise, the commissaries of the Chdtelety in affixing the seals 
after his decease, contented themselves with declaring that a body 
had been shown to them, which " they were told belonged to such 
a person." It was the legal and administrative powers' duty to 
verify the identity of the deceased, and we shall see that they took 
care to do so. Besides, the doctors recognized the lesions already 
remarked by Barras and Harmand ; and Pelletan, by purloining 
the heart of Louis XVII, proved the authenticity of the proces- 
verhal beyond all doubt. The memoirs published in the Revue 
rkrospective in 1894 would establish this fact if it were necessary 
to do so. The operation began at half-past eleven o'clock in the 
morning and ended at four o'clock in the afternoon. 

At eight o'clock in the morning of that same day, four delegates 
from the Comite de Salut public came to ascertain the decease, and 
to give orders concerning the burial. In order to avert all 
suspicion, the non-commissioned officers and the soldiers, both 
going on and coming off guard, were ordered to repair at midday 
to the room in which the post-mortem examination was taking 
place ; these persons, to the number of twenty, recognized the 
corpse and signed their names in the register of the tower. 

Etienne-Joseph Gu6rin, commissary for the section de V Homme 
armi, second commissary on duty in the Temple on the 2irf 
prairialy left among his private papers a rough draft of his state- 
ment. This document, which was shown by Guerin's family to 
M. de La Sicotiere, tells us that the Comite de Salut public sent an 
order to the Temple at half-past four o'clock in the afternoon, 
stating that "the obsequies were to take place according to the 
usual custom in the presence of a certain number of persons as 
prescribed by law." At six o'clock that same day, the commissary 
of police for this section drew up the certificate afterwards quoted 
by the municipality in the acte de deck.* " About eight o'clock," 

* This deed was published by M. Begis from a copy made from the registers 
burnt in 1871. It is dated zznd frairial, and bears the signatures of Lasne and of 
the commissaries ; it is couched in the usual legal phraseology. M. Begis, in 
order to prove its authenticity, reproduces a number of certificates of death 
(including those of Danton, Marie-Antoinette, Robespierre, etc.), all of which 
are exactly similar in form. (See page 123.) 



MEMOIRS UPON LOUIS XVII 169 

says Guerin, " the body, wrapped in a sheet, was laid in a white- 
wood coffin and placed on a bier by the bearers usually employed 
for inhumation ... the body left the Temple by the principal 
entrance at half-past eight o'clock. The crowd was easily dis- 
persed and driven back by a detachment of soldiers, who thus 
formed a barrier at the end of the rue de la Corderie. The funeral 
procession reached the cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite without any 
difficulty." 

The proch-verhal of the inhumation, quoted by M. Begis 
{loc. cit.j pp. 28, 29), signed by Dominique Godet and Nicolas- 
Laurent Arnould, commissaries for the section du Temple^ informs 
us that these commissaries, accompanied by the citizens Jacques 
Garnier, chief of the brigade of the section de Montreuil^ together 
with Pierre Vallon, captain of the same section, and Lasne, com- 
missary on duty in the Temple, escorted the body to the cemetery 
of Sainte-Marguerite, in the rue Bernard, faubourg Antoine, the 
usual burial-ground for that arrondissement, where it was placed 
in a grave, which was then completed in their presence. The 
acte de deces was drawn up at the town-hall, on the l\th prairial^ 
within the legal limit of time, and couched in the usual terms. 

So we see that the body of Louis XVII was conveyed to the 
cemetery, not in a cart or a carriage (which might have had a 
false bottom to serve as a hiding-place for the real Louis XVII, 
alive and well), but on a bier, in a white-wood coffin, four and a 
half feet long, without any distinguishing sign, carried by four 
individuals who shared their task by turns. The coffin was placed 
in the common grave in the presence of witnesses, who, one might 
say, had not lost sight of the unhappy Dauphin since his death. 

The supposition that another child had been substituted in place 
of the Dauphin is thus reduced to naught. 



PART II 

EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

MISFORTUNES OF THE DAUPHIN 
By Naundorff 




j /-/// //r/^'' 



CHARLES -LOUIS NAUNDORF. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 

The Memoirs of Naundorff first appeared in 
London in the year 1836, under the title of 
Extracts from the History of the Misfortunes of the 
Dauphin. In the present volume, a reprint of the 
edition of 1836, we have only omitted the first few 
pages containing an account of the opening scenes 
of the French Revolution and of the imprisonment 
of the royal family in the Temple. 

Our narrative commences on the morrow of 
Thermidor. 

About this time, certain friends conceived a plan 
for rescuing me from my tormentors : they soon 
saw, however, that their scheme was utterly 
impracticable. There was only one entrance to 
my cell, and this was so carefully guarded that even 
a mouse could not have crept in or out unperceived. 

The turret containing the staircase which led 
to my cell had but one door, which was guarded 
day and night both inside and outside. Any one 
wishing to obtain entrance to this tower was care- 
fully searched in the presence of the municipal 
council, who inhabited the ground floor of the 

173 



174 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

building. The same operation was repeated on 
leaving the tower. It was impossible to quit the 
building unperceived, for the door was constantly 
guarded by a sentinel, and the staircase, which 
communicated with all the other floors, com- 
municated with the guard-room situated on the 
ground floor and occupied by the municipal guards. 
Orders had been given that every one, without 
exception, was to be examined there. The guards 
also occupied the first floor, which, like the entrance 
floor, was composed of one large vaulted chamber. 
The sentinel guarding the first floor was ordered, 
whenever he noticed any suspicious-looking person 
coming in or out of the tower, to bring him before 
the said council, who then caused the visitor to be 
escorted out of the building by one or more 
municipal guards. This strict supervision had 
been enjoined in consequence of the discovery of a 
plot to rescue me. Nevertheless, my friends swore 
to risk their lives in order to wrest me from the 
hands of my tormentors, who wished to kill me. 

Therefore, as it was impossible to set me free, 
they determined, by hiding me in the tower itself, 
to make my persecutors think that I had been 
rescued. 'Twas a bold plan, and yet it was the 
only way to facilitate the scheme of escape as con- 
certed by my friends. Nothing was easier than to 
make me disappear for a time. Any person leaving 
my cell, bearing any object belonging to me, was 
allowed to descend to the first floor unmolested. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 175 

My friends were therefore quite sure that I could 
be carried to an upper chamber without running 
any risk of discovery. In fact, although my sister 
was imprisoned on the third floor, at that time 
neither guard nor sentinel were placed outside her 
cell. Experience had taught my friends that their 
scheme was quite practicable. So one day my pro- 
tectors made me swallow a dose of opium, which I 
supposed to be some sort of medicine, and I soon 
found myself half-awake and half-asleep. While 
in this state, I saw them place a child in my bed ; 
they then hid me at the bottom of the hamper in 
which this child had been hidden under my bed. 
I perceived, as in a dream, that this child was only 
a lay-figure, whose face strangely resembled my own. 
This substitution took place while the guard was 
being changed. The new guards, who had orders 
to certify my presence, contented themselves with 
glancing at the child ; they were quite satisfied 
when they saw a boy resembling their prisoner 
apparently fast asleep ; my habitual silence helped 
to heighten the illusion. Meanwhile I had lost all 
consciousness. When I recovered my senses, I 
found myself in a big room, into which I had never 
been hitherto, crowded with all kinds of old 
furniture. This was the fourth floor of the tower. 
They had made a hiding-place for me under the 
piles of furniture contained in this room, which 
communicated with a closet, where I later found 
food and drink prepared for me by my thoughtful 



176 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

friends. All the other entrances were carefully 
barricaded. Before hiding me, one of my friends, 
whose name I shall have occasion to mention later 
on, informed me in what manner I might hope to 
effect an escape. I must consent to suffer all kinds 
of privations without complaining, and, he added, 
the slightest sound or movement would be fatal 
both to myself and to my benefactors ; lastly, he 
urged me, when I was once hidden, never to ask 
for help and to continue to play the part of a dumb 
child. 

On awaking, I remembered my friend's 
exhortations, and determined to die rather than dis- 
obey him. I ate, slept, and waited patiently for 
my friend's arrival. My first saviour sometimes 
came to visit me at night, when he would bring 
me what I required. The lay-figure was discovered 
on the very first evening, but the Government 
thought fit to say nothing about my escape, which 
they believed to be an accomplished fact. My 
friends for their part, in order to hoodwink the 
sanguinary tyrants, had, I believe, dispatched a 
child bearing my name to Strasburg. Not only 
did they spread a report to that effect, but they 
apprised the governors of that town that they were 
about to confide me to their care. Lastly, the 
tyrants of France, in order to conceal the truth, put 
a dumb child about my own age in the place of the 
lay-figure ; they also doubled the guard, hoping, by 
so doing, to persuade the public that I was still 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 177 

in my cell. These extraordinary precautions pre- 
vented my friends from executing their project 
exactly as they had wished to do. So I was 
obliged to remain in that cursed hole, where I felt 
as if I was buried alive. 

I was about nine and a half years of age at the 
time and already accustomed, by my long sufferings, 
to harsh treatment ; little did I care for the cold, 
although it was the depth of winter when they 
shut me up in my hiding-place on the fourth floor 
of the tower, the keys of which my friends had 
managed to get hold of, so that everything might 
be ready for my arrival. No one guessed that I 
was hidden there, for no one ever entered that 
room. Even if some one had entered, that some one 
would not have discovered me ; for the friend, who 
came to visit me occasionally, could only reach my 
hiding-place by creeping on all-fours. If by any 
chance he was prevented from coming, I passed the 
day in gloomy solitude like a wretched prisoner at 
the bottom of an oubliette. Sometimes I was obliged 
to wait several days for the appearance of the kind 
beings who supplied me with food. My readers 
would, no doubt, like to learn the names of those 
noble souls, my magnanimous protectors. But I 
cannot divulge their names. My political enemies 
oblige me to be cautious ; they threatened to call, 
as a witness, a certain individual who has already 
made too many dupes by using my name as a 
pretext for his perfidious machinations ; so I must 



178 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

await the decision of the powers that be. My 
readers must have patience ; for these pohtical 
enemies, veritable wolves in sheep's clothing, are 
guilty of heinous crimes ; it is they who, by their 
perfidious behaviour, kept and still keep the truth 
from my sister. It is they who, by their ceaseless 
and infamous calumny, deceive the daughter of the 
martyr-king, that angel of virtue, as they call her. 
They dare to prepare for her a long future of agony 
and remorse by leading her into error and by 
depriving her of the happiness of finding her 
brother once more. 

What was the reason of all these Machiavellian 
plots .? 

The son of Louis XVI thwarted their plans. 
And so they combated all my endeavours to make 
myself known by the vilest intrigues and by 
exhibiting false dauphins, of whom they always 
had a number in reserve, and whom they produced 
as soon as the real due de Normandie dared to 
raise his voice and demand that justice should be 
done to him. The ministers of the God of peace 
and verity were not ashamed to blacken their 
consciences by endeavouring to hallow these lies. 
Some of their number, disowning the rights of 
religion, by an arbitrary act for which God will 
one day call them to account, spread terror among 
many loyal individuals who believed in my exist- 
ence, and who, distraught by painful doubts, sought 
for a guide and counsellor true to the teaching 




THE TEMPLE PRISON. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 179 

exposed in our divine Saviour's doctrines. In 
writing thus, I do not wish to excite any feelings 
of bitterness or animosity against any one, still less 
against my priestly adversaries. I beg you then, 
dear reader, to understand that my enemies alone 
have forced me to proclaim cruel facts (which I 
deplore from the bottom of my heart) in order to 
justify myself. 

We were still imprisoned in the little tower 
when we were taken one day to walk in the garden. 
A young sentry, standing in an alley at the end of 
the garden, gave us to understand by signs that he 
was one of our friends ; he had been stationed 
there in order to prevent us from going any farther. 
This sentry, who seemed very young and who, 
although he was twenty-eight or twenty-nine years 
of age, did not look more than eighteen, was a 
woman in disguise whose husband had been 
assassinated on August lo. Later on, I shall have 
occasion to mention the name of this loyal and 
amiable sentry, and my sister will thereby be able 
to see that I am telling the truth. 

While I was shut up all alone on the fourth floor 
of the Temple many things happened which, for 
certain reasons, I cannot now explain. I can only 
relate what I learnt from my friend Montmorin, a 
friend faithful unto death, who, in the old days, was 
well known to Madame la duchesse dAngouleme. 

The revolutionary government, on account of 
its pohtical position, thought fit to conceal this 



180 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

state of affairs ; the lay-figure had, therefore, been 
replaced by a dumb child. Notwithstanding this 
fraud, as there were many people still alive who 
had known the real Dauphin, an order was given 
that no one was to be allowed to enter my cell, so 
that there might be no risk of betraying the secret. 
When they wished to verify the existence of the 
false Dauphin, they sent only those persons who 
were in the secret or who had never seen me. I 
cannot understand how, in spite of these pre- 
cautions, the rumour came to be spread that the 
real Dauphin was no longer in the tower. These 
rumours terrified the agitators, who thereupon 
decided to kill the dumb child. So they mixed 
with his food certain herbs which made him very 
ill; then, in order to avert all suspicion of murder, 
and to make a show of their fine feelings, they 
summoned M. Desault, who, however, was not to 
be allowed to cure the child. M. Desault examined 
the child, and soon discovered that some sort of 
poison had been administered to him; he made his 
friend Choppart, the chemist, prepare an antidote. 
He then declared that the child whom he was 
tending was not the son of Louis XVI whom 
he had once known. M. Desault's words were 
repeated ; the murderers of the royal family, 
trembling with fear, saw that the dumb child's life 
was likely to be prolonged notwithstanding all their 
endeavours to get rid of him, and put in his place 
another child suffering from rickets, whom they 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 181 

procured from one of the Paris hospitals. This 
proceeding somewhat allayed the ever-haunting 
fear lest any one should discover that the dumb 
child was really incapable of speech. In order to 
prevent any fresh discoveries, they poisoned Desault 
and Choppart. The last substitute was tended by 
doctors who, never having seen either the real 
Dauphin or the sick child, naturally thought that 
they were prescribing for me. 

Here are a few proofs of my assertions : While I 
was still shut up with my father and Clery, certain 
devoted friends agreed one night to rescue my 
father and myself while other faithful friends 
mounted guard. Providence, however, willed that 
this project should be betrayed. In order to pre- 
vent any more attempts to escape, my tormentors 
ordered that a bolt should be placed inside the 
anteroom where the two municipal guards, who 
shared our prison, slept at night. This was a sure 
way to prevent any sudden surprise, for the guards 
themselves were obliged to unbolt the door for any 
one who wished to enter the ante-chamber. One 
day, before fixing the bolt, a couple of workmen 
were sent to make two apertures in the wall ; during 
the dinner-hour, one of these men approached my 
father, with whom I was talking in the ante-room, 
and made signs to him ; when my father and 
I were alone with him, he gave us three packets 
containing gold, which we much needed at that 
time. The workman was going to say something 



182 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

else and to confide certain important secrets to my 

father when some one outside called to him ; my 

father, thinking that he was about to be searched, 

concealed the packets of gold about my person and 

told the workman to leave the room. However, 

his fears were unfounded ; a few days later, my 

father told me to give one of these packets to 

my good aunt. The man who had brought them 

was called J. P. This worthy man received from 

my father a letter for our friends abroad, and, 

by his noble conduct, earned our entire confidence ; 

so he was later intrusted with the task of effecting 

my escape, for which many persons occupying high 

positions in the revolutionary government had 

received from the hands of a certain personage 

large sums of money. J. P. appeared and received, 

not the real Dauphin, but his dumb substitute. 

According to commands, he took the rescued child 

to Madame Josephine de Beauharnais, who later 

became empress of the French. This lady, on 

beholding the child, cried, " Unhappy wretch ! 

what have you done .? You have made a fatal 

mistake ; you have delivered the son of Louis XVI 

into the hands of his father's assassins! " Josephine, 

in old days, had known the real Dauphin ; it was 

she who had obtained the dumb child for Barras 

when it was proposed to substitute a child in place 

of the lay-figure. The truth of these facts will 

eventually be proved in the courts of justice. The 

unhappy child had therefore been rescued instead 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 183 

of me ; / was still languishing in the tower. 
Observe that even the important personage who 
had furnished money for my escape had been 
deceived ; so the removal of the dumb child was 
not the work of my friends, as Madame de 
Beauharnais' words proved : " Unhappy wretch! 
What have -you done ? " She thought for a 
moment that our friends' project had been divulged, 
that if I was taken back to my old prison I could 
not possibly escape, and that Barras had deceived 
her in order to get himself out of a tight corner. 
At that time she was unaware that the dumb child 
had been replaced by another child, a little invalid. 
Certain important reasons obliged the government 
to hasten this unfortunate victim's end. He died, 
they tell me, on June 8, 1795, and his corpse, after 
the post-mortem examination, was laid in a box for 
immediate burial. This box, together with the 
corpse, was placed in the room once occupied by 
my father. During this operation I had been 
given a strong dose of opium. They placed me in 
the coffin from which they had taken the child 
whose body had just been opened ; the whole 
thing was done in the few minutes which pre- 
ceded the arrival of the bearers who were to fetch 
the coffin and carry it to the cemetery. Hardly 
had the dead child been borne to my old hiding- 
place on the fourth floor of the tower, when my 
friends, having learnt what was going on, placed 
the coffin containing me in a carriage. Those who 



184 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

were not in the secret thought that I was going to 
be buried. But the carriage had been specially 
prepared for this emergency. While driving to 
the cemetery, I was placed in a box at the bottom 
of the carriage and the coffin was filled with waste- 
paper so that it might not seem too light, and, as 
soon as the coffin had been placed in the grave, 
my friends brought me back to Paris. While 
still unconscious, I was confided to the care of 
other friends. When I awoke I found myself 
lying in bed in a very clean room, alone with 

my nurse, Madame , the young sentry of 

the Temple garden. Fortunately, the change had 
been quickly effected, for hardly was I in safety 
when the whole secret was discovered. But not- 
withstanding my persecutors' endeavours to re- 
capture me, I was now safe and carefully hidden. 
At that time, people were already saying that it was 
not I who had been buried. The reports frightened 
the Government, who gave orders to their agents to 
disinter the coffin, nail it firmly, and bury it else- 
where, so that, in case of any researches, no one 
could find it again. 

Notwithstanding these precautions, investiga- 
tions under divers pretexts were made on all sides. 
My friends, fearing that I might be discovered, 
and judging my absence from the capital as very 
necessary, disguised me and sent me out of Paris 
in a carriage. At the same time, in order to put 
my enemies on the wrong scent, they dispatched a 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 185 

little native of Versailles under my name, together 
with its parents, in another direction. While I 
was on my way to join the army in la Vendee, 
certain faithful servitors gave me a kind and discreet 
welcome. The devoted attentions showered upon 
me did not prevent me from contracting an illness, 
the inevitable consequence of the hardships endured 
by me, and which eventually proved too much for 
my constitution. I remained alone with Madame 

^ who never left me, and nursed me with the 

greatest kindness. As soon as I was convalescent, 
she set to work to teach me the German language, 
so that I might pass for her son. This lady was a 
native of Switzerland, and, as I have already said, 
was the widow of a victim of the events of 
August lo. During all the time passed with her 
in our friends' castle I never saw any one else, 
except on one occasion, when three individuals, 
wearing a strange uniform, appeared. She told 
me that these persons were Charette and two of 
his friends. 

Notwithstanding the deepest secrecy, we were 
eventually betrayed. One night several gendarmes 
entered our abode, dragged me from my bed while 

I was chatting with Madame , and hurried 

me off to prison. I knew that a certain Monsieur 

B , whose name I will mention later on, lived 

in the castle with a certain Swiss from Geneva and 

corresponded with Madame . He also had 

another friend, formerly lady-in-waiting to my 



186 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

good mother. These were the persons who pro- 
vided us with money and clothes. 

I sometimes saw Monsieur B in the dis- 
tance, disguised as an old peasant, but at that time 
I did not know who he was. He kept up a 
correspondence with Madame de Beauharnais, who 
again helped me to escape from prison. I was then 

confided to the care of Monsieur B , in whose 

house I made the acquaintance of a young girl 
named Marie and of the huntsman Jean, whose 
real name was Montmorin. My readers, together 
with all true Frenchmen, will have occasion during 
the course of my narrative to admire this faithful 
creature. 

These two friends now took the management 
of my affairs into their own hands. They found 
a man and his son who was about my own age. 
This man was given the necessary means to embark 
for America, and, after his departure, we set off for 
Venice, where we stayed some time. We finally 
left Venice for Trieste, and from there we went to 
Italy, where we enjoyed the secret protection of the 
Holy Father, Pius VI. I have in my possession a 
genuine copy of a document in Latin concerning 
myself and signed by him, Pius Sextus. 

I have just mentioned the name of the Holy 
Father. Yes, dear reader, to me he was indeed a 
father in the best sense of the word. Never have 
I beheld a more noble or more venerable old man, 
a king, alas ! who has no imitators. It was in 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 187 

Italy that Madame met me with her second 

husband. Some time after this happy meeting the 
man and his son, who had embarked before us, also 
appeared and offered their services. Yet this 
happiness was of brief duration, for the revolu- 
tionary army invaded Italy. My persecutors 
recommenced their cruel persecution, and we 
were obliged to hide. We buried our little for- 
tune in a safe place, and left our retreat at midnight. 
But it was already too late, for a new and horrible 
case of treachery (which I will not mention now) 
flung me headlong into fresh calamities. The man 
had disappeared with his son, and the house which 
we had occupied until now, and which belonged 
to a friend of the Holy Father, was burnt. We 
fled, and a few days later sailed for England. 

My misfortunes are truly remarkable, but as my 
object is not to excite pity, I will only relate small 
portions of my adventures — that is to say, events 
useful as evidence in my strange case. I cannot 
refrain, however, from mentioning the horrible 

murder of M. B and poor Marie. After this 

lamentable event, I was captured while at sea and 
forcibly taken back to France, where my only 
friend, Montmorin, who had escaped from my 
persecutors, followed me wherever I went, though 
I knew it not. As for me, as soon as I had landed 
in France I was imprisoned. Here two strangers 
came to see me, and tried to persuade me to become 
a monk, assuring me that this was the only way to 



188 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

escape from my tormentors. I rejected their advice, 
and, after a long examination, they left me. Some 
time after, I was taken, in the middle of the night, 
on board a little vessel and conveyed to a port 
where several armed men and a carriage were 
waiting for me. After a journey lasting four 
days and four nights, I was again imprisoned. 
A woman, who seemed to me more like a man 
in woman's clothing than a member of the female 
sex, was the only person whom I saw. It was she 
who waited on me. I was subjected to cruel treat- 
ment in the prison, where I remained until the end 
of 1803. Montmorin broke my chains, and, thanks 
to the good Josephine, I was set at liberty. She 
had managed, with the help of the minister Fouche, 
to deceive her husband. Napoleon. My friends, 
during this winter and the beginning of 1804, 
busied themselves about my affairs. Pichegru was 
sent to interview the comte de Provence. The 
world will scarcely believe that this relative, ob- 
livious of all family affection, blind to aught but 
political ambition, used Pichegru's revelations as 
a weapon against me, betrayed my friends, and 
revealed my last hiding-place. Obliged to fly, we 
directed our steps towards Ettenheim, in Germany, 
the abode of the due d'Enghien, who, during a 
secret visit to Paris, had been initiated into the 
mystery of my life-story. I was arrested outside 
the walls of Strasburg, and placed in solitary con- 
finement in the fortress of that town until some 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 189 

gendarmes came to fetch me. I spent three days 
and three nights in a post-chaise, which never 
stopped once during the whole journey. In the 
middle of the third night I was shut up in a 
dungeon, which I will now describe. 

It miust have been nearly midnight when we 
arrived at our destination ; I was made to descend 
from my carriage and to walk some distance on 
foot. We stopped outside the entrance to a big 
building: my guides opened a door, through which 
we passed and went down a long winding passage 
which turned so often to the right and to the left 
that at last I no longer knew where I was. They 
thrust me into a dark, windowless oubliette and closed 
the door. I then heard the sound of their heavy 
footsteps dying away in the distance. Not a 
glimmer of light could I perceive. I know not 
how long this horrible nightmare lasted. Suddenly 
the bolts were drawn, and a man appeared holding 
a dark-lantern ; he gave me some soup which 
seemed mixed with wine, which he made me eat 
in his presence. This man was my gaoler; having 
made me lie down, he then left me. The soup was 
very hot, and refreshed me so that I was able to 
sleep. When I awoke, I looked in vain for any 
signs of daylight. I could not believe that my 
prison was a dungeon with no opening except the 
door ; I thought that I had slept all day, and that 
this was the second night of my incarceration. I was 
confirmed in this belief when the man reappeared 



190 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

with his lantern. This time he brought me no 
wine-soup, but he placed on my rough wooden 
table a pitcher of water and a loaf weighing from 
two to three pounds, cut into rounds ; he then 
disappeared without having uttered a single word. 
Notwithstanding my bitter grief, I fell asleep, and 
awoke to find myself still in darkness. I arose, for 
I was hungry. I groped my way towards the 
table upon which stood the pitcher. I could not 
find the bread : it had disappeared. Then I began 
to think that my dungeon must be inhabited by 
other human beings besides myself. I sank back 
upon my couch, but sleep refused to close my eyes. 
I was tormented by the pangs of hunger. I lay 
listening for any sound near my prison, when I 
heard my gaoler's footsteps outside my door ; the 
bolts rattled and then the door opened. This man 
seemed to me like one of those spectres who only 
exist in old legends of past events. He brought 
me more bread and water. In vain did I ask him 
who had taken the bread which I had not eaten ; 
in vain did I beg him to tell me where I was. Not 
a word would he utter. He went away without 
having opened his mouth. I quickly devoured 
half the bread, drank some water, and then lay 
down again. On awaking, I searched for the 
remains of my provisions : but the bread had 
disappeared. I was therefore obliged to wait 
patiently for the return of my gaoler. It seemed 
to me, however, that my sight had altered : either 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 191 

my eyes were getting accustomed to the darkness 
or else the daylight was stronger, for I could now 
distinguish, in the vaulted ceiling of my dungeon, 
a sort of grating through which a few feeble rays 
of light struggled to gain admittance to my living 
tomb. I could now not only see the grating, but 
I could also see my hands when I held them before 
my face ; these were the only objects visible ; I 
could not see my feet. 

I languished for I know not how many days in 
this horrible prison; my bread was often stolen, 
but never could I discover the thief. My constant 
companion, hunger, obliged me to be prudent. So, 
as soon as I had received my share of bread, after 
having eaten half, I used to lie down and put the 
remainder under my bed-clothes. This precaution, 
however, was useless, for on awaking I found that 
it had been devoured. I had, it is true, heard a 
noise near my bedside, though I had been unable 
to ascertain the cause. I then determined to 
unravel the mystery : I lay down as usual, placed 
the remainder of my bread under my bed-clothes, 
and pretended to sleep. Soon certain visitors, 
apparently as big as rabbits, began to scramble 
over my bed ; I stretched out my right hand 
in order to" catch one ; but hardly had I caught 
the creature, when I felt it bite through one 
of my fingers. Terrified, I quickly let it go ; 
the blood was flowing freely, I suffered severe 
pain: the scar on my finger testifies to the 



192 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

truth of this statement. I was now obliged to 
eat all my bread at once if I did not wish 
to share it with my long-tailed companions, 
for I now began to suspect that these creatures 
were big rats — which I later proved to be the case. 
These animals often invaded my bed and trampled 
upon me. If I did not leave them enough bread 
to assuage their appetites, they redoubled their 
squeaks ; they would grunt like little pigs if I 
threw a few crumbs on the floor of my dungeon. 
Kinder than many men, the greatest harm they 
ever did to me was to take my bread in order to 
preserve their own lives. Mankind, on the con- 
trary, attacked both my person and my honour. 

My couch was composed of a woollen blanket 
and a heap of straw thrown upon the ground in 
a corner of my dungeon ; my dungeon itself was 
a cold, damp, quadrangular chamber. Neither 
underlinen nor warm clothes were provided for 
me. At last I found myself without even a shirt. 
My coat and breeches were in rags, and, in order 
to keep myself warm, I was obliged to wrap myself 
up in the blanket, which the rats had bitten in 
a thousand places and used as a nursery. I was 
nineteen years of age when I was imprisoned in the 
depths of this subterranean dungeon, a dark hole 
from which I could see neither the clear light of 
the sun nor the pale moonbeams. I had for- 
gotten the meaning of day and night, as well 
as the divisions of time. I thought, from the 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 193 

state of my clothes, that my captivity must have 
lasted at least half a century ; I knew every inch 
of my dungeon, and my ears could perceive the 
gaoler's footsteps from afar. This was the only 
sound I heard except distant drums, which sounded 
to me like the rumbling of thunder. The grating, 
through which air and light might have pene- 
trated, seemed choked with cobwebs. Alone in 
this hidden spot, abandoned by every one, I thought 
in the bitterness of my heart that all my friends 
had forsaken me ; I felt as if I were already 
sleeping my last sleep. My hair, which I could 
not see, had grown long and curly. My beard 
was thick, and when I passed my hand over my 
face, it felt like the head of a wild beast. My 
nails were so long that they were constantly break- 
ing; I could only shorten them by biting them 
with my teeth. I despaired of beholding once 
more the surface of the globe, when suddenly I 
was awakened in the middle of the night by 
two men who called me by my name. I arose 
wrapped in my blanket, in a most horrible state 
of filth, and covered with the straw, which, as 
it had never been changed, had been ground to 
chaff by the friction of my body. On beholding 
me, the wild expression of my countenance, and the 
dirty rags in which I was clothed, my liberators, 
overcome with surprise and pity, cried : " Ha ! 
what does this mean ? " My gaoler, who, with 

his lantern in his hand, assisted at this scene, 
13 



194 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

nodded his head, and said: "Yes, yes, 'tis he!" 
On this man's left cheek was a long cut, evidently- 
made by a sword ; he took my hand and showed a 
scar on my finger to my saviours, who seemed to 
recognize it. These brave friends immediately led 
me out of my dungeon. ^ 

I fainted on breathing the fresh air of heaven. 
When I recovered consciousness, I found myself 
lying in a carriage which sped along as if it had 
wings. We arrived that same night at a new 
hiding-place, where I was concealed in an isolated 
chamber which I never left, so that all risk of 
recapture might be averted. My friends loaded 
me with kindness and affection. Their loving 
care could not destroy the germs of a dangerous 
illness, complicated by very disquieting symptoms. 
My own sufferings, and the hopes, noble devotion, 
endurance and brave efforts of my friends, were 
nearly annihilated in a single day by a premature 
death. But Providence, who watched over me 
and whose immutable plans I dare not try to 
divine, destined me for another fate. My recoverv 
was almost a miracle; but hardly was I able to 
totter on my legs when my persecutors discovered 
my new hiding-place. I set off without delay, 
accompanied by my sole remaining friend, Mont- 
morin. We arrived, worn out with fatigue and 
anxiety, at Frankfort-on-the-Maine in Germany, 
where we rested for a few days, and went to 
a Jewish dealer in old clothes, who exchanged 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 195 

our clothes for others. This was in the spring 
of 1809. 

In this town I learnt from my friend Mont- 
morin that I had spent about four years in the 
dungeon which I have just described — so I was 
now about twenty-four years of age. I calculated 
that I had spent seventeen years in prison, including 
my captivity with my family in the tower of the 
Temple, for, even when I was in my friends' 
hands, I was still a prisoner. Knowing that 
Madame Josephine had befriended me upon 
other occasions, I asked Montmorin why she had 
allowed me to languish in misery for so many long 
months .? He informed me that Bonaparte, her 
husband, had discovered that she was implicated 
in a scheme to rescue me from my persecutors, 
and that, in order to deter her from continually 
thwarting his plans, he had cleverly hinted to her 
that he intended to leave the throne of France, 
after his own death, to her son Eugene. This 
enchanting prospect overcame the scruples of a 
woman who certainly could not be accused of 
disloyalty. Montmorin added: "And yet it was 
she who rescued you from your last dungeon, and 
who revealed to your friends the place of your 
imprisonment, which they could never have dis- 
covered without her intervention. But do not 
imagine," continued he, " that she acted thus 
out of the kindness of her heart : no ! she is a 
calculating woman. Her husband intends, after 



196 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

your death, to divorce her and to take another wife. 
To this cause you owe your present liberty." 

During my imprisonment with my father and 
C16ry in the tower of the Temple, several friends 
had proposed to deliver me from my tormentors' 
hands. My good mother shared these hopes. 
She therefore, with her own hand, wrote down a 
description of all the marks on my body, so that, 
if by any chance I managed to escape, my friends 
could recognize me. This paper, together with 
other proofs, had been confided to the care of 
Montmorin,who, fearful of losing them, sewed them 
into the collar of my coat, urging me, at the same 
time, never to confide it to any one, because its 
contents could prove to kings and judges the irre- 
futable authentication of my identity. Some persons 
immediately declared that the queen of France 
had tatooed certain marks upon her children's 
bodies, while others averred that she had branded 
them with a red-hot ring or some similar object ; 
many affirmed that she had marked on her son's 
left thigh a representation of the Holy Ghost in 
the form of a dove. I swear that all these reports 
are false ; Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme knows 
that I am speaking the truth. It is true that I 
possessed, on my left thigh, a birth-mark shaped like 
a dove, with its head pointing downwards and its 
wings spread. This mark, formed by numerous 
tiny veins, was carefully described by my mother; 
my father signed her statement, and sealed it 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 197 

with the seal used by him in the tower of the 
Temple. 

Having received news from my friends in 
France, together with a letter of credit, we hastily 
left Frankfort and travelled post towards Bohemia. 
After a long journey we arrived in Germany, where 
we found, in a town situated in the valley of the 
Elbe, a certain man who took us to see the duke of 
Brunswick ; the latter gave us letters of introduction 
to the Prussian court. We rested in a little town 
called Semnicht, on the Austrian frontier, and then 
set off for Dresden, which town we were not allowed 
to enter. We were obliged to make a long detour 
in order to reach the kingdom of Prussia. We 
alighted in a village and lodged at an inn, the name 
of which I have forgotten. Night came on. As 
we were extremely tired, we retired, immediately 
after supper, to a sort of bedchamber, and prepared 
to go to bed. We had just fallen fast asleep, when 
we were awakened, arrested as spies, and taken to 
be examined by the commander of a body of troops 
lately quartered in the environs : the name of this 
officer was the baron von Schill. My friend 
Montmorin gave him the duke of Brunswick's letter; 
he seemed quite satisfied, and kept us near him 
until the army of Westphalia routed his own little 
company. I hardly noticed anything during our 
march ; I heard my companions talk of a junction 
with the duke of Brunswick's army. We were 
daily pursued by large bodies of troops, who finally 



198 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

attacked us in a certain town. The brave com- 
mander, no longer able to protect us, made us leave 
him, and gave us an escort of cavalry commanded 
by a young officer, a German count, named, if I 
am not mistaken, Veptel or Vetel. We fell into 
the hands of our enemies, who rushed upon us in a 
body ; we tried to fly ; we were obliged to defend 
ourselves, for they cried : " No quarter ! " The 
young commander, who had a good horse, was 
able to escape. My faithful Montmorin, having 
previously lost his shako, fell, sword in hand, close 
beside me : a brute, standing behind him, had cut 
his head open. I myself was wounded ; they shot 
at me, and my horse dropped down dead ; my left 
foot having caught in the stirrup, I was unable to free 
myself. A foot soldier then came up to me and hit 
me upon the head with the butt end of his musket : 
the blow stunned me, and for some time I could 
neither see nor hear. I know not how long my 
fainting fit lasted, but when I recovered conscious- 
ness I found myself in a hospital. My head was 
still so weak that the people standing round my 
bed looked to me like giants. My limbs and my 
fingers in especial seemed as long as fir-trees ; my 
legs felt as thick and as heavy as casks. While in 
this pitiable condition, I was one day hoisted into 
a wagon. When I now think of these strange 
events, they seem to me like a dream. My strength 
having returned, I perceived that I was imprisoned 
in the fortress of Wesel, on the French frontier. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 199 

All the persons either belonging to the duke of 
Brunswick's army or to the baron von Schill's 
company imprisoned there were, by Napoleon's 
orders, condemned illegally to work in the galleys 
at Toulon. For some reason unknown to myself, 
I was included among the despot's unhappy victims. 
We were then transferred to the centre of France, 
and imprisoned, like common thieves, first in one 
dungeon and then in another. As I did not 
possess a single sou^ I was unable to purchase any 
little comforts for myself. I had been stripped of 
all my belongings on the battlefield except my 
coat, which I found lying on my pallet in the 
hospital at Wesel. We were so harshly treated 
on the road by our French escort, that even those 
who might have pitied us were repelled when they 
heard our tormentors cry: " These fellows belong to 
the gangs of Brunswick and Schill ! " As I had not 
quite recovered my strength, this treatment caused 
a recurrence of my old illness. When at last I 
fainted while passing through a little village on the 
route, my escort was obliged to leave me behind. 

I was awakened from my trance by a fine rain, 
which soon penetrated through my thread-bare 
clothing. A woman and a girl, who, I think, must 
have been her daughter, approached and offered 
me their assistance. I was dying of thirst, and my 
hands were burning with fever. My head was so 
weak that I could not hold it up. I could see 
nothing distinctly. I tried to speak, but my lips 



200 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

were so parched with thirst that I could not utter 
a single word. This woman then brought me 
some milk, which I drank greedily. They fetched 
a wagon and took me to an hospital in the neigh- 
bouring town. There I met a convalescent soldier 
named Friedrichs, a hussar in von Schill's regiment, 
who was called Frederic by the French soldiers. 
Friedrichs soon made friends with me ; and when he 
was quite sure that he could trust in my discretion, 
he persuaded me to escape in his company. This 
project was soon put into execution. My health 
being now quite re-established, we seized the 
opportunity to escape one night during a severe 
thunderstorm. We descended into a cellar filled 
with such strange coffin-shaped boxes that one 
might easily have mistaken it for a tomb. When 
there, we found that we had to creep through a 
closely-barred window ; it looked almost impossible 
to creep through this aperture. We used the 
above-mentioned boxes as a ladder, and soon, thanks 
to our united efforts, the old rust-eaten bars gave 
way ; we then crept through the window, and 
found ourselves in an enclosure surrounded by very 
high walls guarded by two sentries, who had gone 
to shelter from the thunderstorm in their sentry- 
boxes. We took infinite pains not to attract the 
sentries' attention by making the slightest noise. 
I bent down, and Friedrichs, mounting upon my 
shoulders, climbed to the top of the wall. He 
had with him a wallet containing certain objects 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 201 

of which I was ignorant at that time ; my friend 
used this wallet as a sort of rope with which to 
help me up ; but notwithstanding all our efforts, I 
could not scale the wall. While endeavouring to 
do so, I made a slight noise, whereupon cries of 
" Who goes there ? " were immediately heard on 
all sides. Thanks to overwhelming terror or to 
the mercy of Providence, I suddenly found myself, 
I know not how, on the top of the wall. We 
jumped down on the other side, where we un- 
fortunately fell into a ditch. My fall was particu- 
larly unlucky, for, on trying to rise, I found that I 
could not walk. I cannot understand how it was 
that we were not pursued. Friedrichs took me 
upon his back, and, notwithstanding this heavy and 
inconvenient burden, he soon reached a thick grove, 
in which he deposited me. He then set my foot, 
which I had dislocated in my fall ; this operation 
was so successful that I soon felt no more pain. 
The rain was still falling ; it was so dark that, had 
it not been for the lightning, we could never have 
found our way. The storm slowly abated and day 
broke. We thought that we were already far 
from our late prison, and we were looking for a 
shelter wherein to hide, when, to our horror and 
unutterable grief, we discovered that we had 
returned to the very spot which we had left on 
the previous night, and that, deceived by the dark- 
ness, we had been walking round and round in a 
circle ! We noticed a number of persons pacing 



202 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

to and fro in the distance. Perhaps they were 
only workmen ; however, we took it into our 
heads that we were being pursued. Happily a 
field of tall, thick corn offered us a capital shelter. 
We determined, therefore, to hide until nightfall 
in this field. Good God ! what a fearful day we 
spent there ! Never shall I forget it. The rain 
lasted until about ten o'clock, and it was nearly 
eleven o'clock when we lay down in the mud. 
The sky had cleared, and the fierce beams of the 
sun burned our bodies so cruelly that we were 
obliged to roll ourselves upon the damp ground in 
order to cool first one side and then the other. 
By nightfall we were more like two wild beasts 
who had rolled themselves in the mire than human 
beings. We took no nourishment during the 
whole day. If we wished to moisten our tongues, 
we were obliged to chew some corn-stalks. How- 
ever, notwithstanding all these tortures and cruel 
privations, when the sun sank and no longer 
scorched us with its rays, we fell asleep. Night 
had already fallen when Friedrichs awoke me that 
we might continue our journey. We suffered so 
cruelly from hunger and thirst, that we were 
obliged to invade a garden and steal some fruit off 
the trees, which, I think, belonged to a neighbour- 
ing hamlet. We quickly climbed over the hedge 
and plundered the trees. We dined and supped 
off green apples and sour pears, and then we filled 
our pockets and continued our nocturnal journey. 



THE MEMOIUS OF NAUNDORFF 203 

When day began to break we always crept into a 
thicket or hid among thick corn. We could only 
travel by night, as neither of us possessed a pass- 
port. It is not my intention to relate the endless 
sufferings endured by us during this long journey. 
I will only recount those events which are neces- 
sary to explain my history and to connect divers 
episodes. I will therefore omit those adventures 
which can only interest inquisitive persons, and I 
will now pass on to our life in Germany, where 
we arrived after a thousand vicissitudes. While 
in this country I had the great misfortune to lose 
my friend Friedrichs. This is how it happened. 
During our wearisome journey he had assumed the 
task, as he termed it, of foraging when he thought 
that he could do so with advantage. I know 
not to what cause he owed his success. He used 
to leave me, together with his wallet, in some 
safe spot, and, on his return, he always brought 
back a supply of bread, cheese, fruit, etc. One 
day, after a long march in the pouring rain, we 
reached the frontier of Westphalia, drenched to 
the skin and worn out with fatigue. When day- 
light began to appear we took refuge in a forest, 
where we found a hollow tree, into which we 
climbed until it was time for Friedrichs to go and 
replenish our stock of provisions. We always 
took care to halt in the neighbourhood of a village, 
even if we still had time to go a little further. 
Fatigue or some mishap often obliged us to halt 



204 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

sooner than we might have wished to do. It was 
now nearly nine o'clock. Friedrichs' wallet was 
by my side ; I remained crouched down in the 
hollow oak-tree, where I fell asleep, as was my 
custom, quite reassured as to the fate of my friend, 
who was fulfilling his self-imposed duty. During 
his absence a big black dog discovered my hiding- 
place ; his master followed him, and took me from 
my hollow oak-tree : this man was a shepherd who 
was tending his sheep near by. He thought that 
I had deserted from the Westphalian army, and my 
condition awakened pity in his breast, for he 
himself had a son in Spain with Napoleon's army. 
He tried to persuade me to remain with him until 
nightfall, promising to hide me for some days in 
his hay-loft, so that I might recover my strength 
somewhat. I made him understand that I was 
not alone, and that I must wait for the return of 
my friend, who had gone to find food in the 
neighbouring village. The shepherd then asked 
me to describe Friedrichs to him ; having heard 
my description, he cried : " Ah ! you will never 
again see that brave fellow. The knights of the 
rope have caught him ! A little while ago I saw 
them taking him towards the town." " Who are 
the knights of the rope .? " asked I. He replied : 
" They are the new gendarmes^ called in these 
parts Strick Vereiter T He then persuaded me to 
accept his kind offer and to abandon the search 
for my companion, which I had resolved to 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 205 

undertake. He assured me that Friedrichs would 
be better able to save himself if he were alone. 
While talking to me, in his eagerness to get the 
better of my determination and to persuade me to 
come with him, he took possession of Friedrichs' 
wallet and flung it over his shoulder. When 
night began to fall I followed him to his cottage, 
where he introduced me to his old wife, whom he 
called " mother," adding : " Here is another un- 
happy son. Be kind to him, and then, perhaps, 
the good God will watch over our son in Spain." 
The good old folks then began to cry, for they 
only had one son. After I had shared their supper 
they took me to sleep in the hay-loft. The old 
woman was most kind to me. I enjoyed this 
touching hospitality until the morning of the 
third day, when the shepherd led me far from his 
village along the high-road. He gave me back 
Friedrichs' wallet, three pieces of silver, some 
bread and half a boudin ;^ then he bade me farewell, 
adding : " May God watch over you ! It is useless 
to tell you my name or the name of my village." 
So saying, he turned back and quickly disappeared 
from view. By refusing to tell me his name he 
prevented me from ever being able to prove my 
gratitude either to himself or to any member of 
his family. 

As an old soldier, he feared to compromise 
himself by revealing his name to a young man 
1 Boudin^ black pudding. — Translator's note. 



206 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

whom he supposed to be a deserter. When, for 
the first time, I saw this good old man standing 
outside the hollow tree, I thought that he was an 
inhabitant from some other world, so astonished 
was I at his strange habiliment. On his head he 
wore a black felt hat from which hung a long 
horn. In order to shelter his forehead from the 
rays of the sun, he had fastened a roof-like brim 
to the edge of this strange headdress. The rest 
of his body was hidden by a long white linen coat, 
and over his shoulders hung a leather pouch 
adorned with long fringe ; in his hand he held 
a kind of little spade, which he used to sprinkle 
earth over his sheep. His curiously-fashioned 
boots looked as if they were at least a century 
old; his long snow-white hair floated over his 
shoulders. I often think with pleasure of this 
worthy man. 

Continuing my pilgrimage, I soon arrived in 
Saxony, where, my friend the shepherd informed 
me, I need not fear any trouble with gendarmes 
during the daytime. He recommended me to 
follow Friedrichs' method by night, that is to 
say, to sleep out of doors. I therefore altered 
my habits, travelling by day and sleeping at night 
in the open air. Friedrichs had advised me to 
enlist by preference in the Prussian army. So 
I began to wend my way towards the town of 
Berlin, which was the only town I knew, in order 
to put my project into execution. I asked my 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 207 

way of all those whom I met. Either they did 
not understand my question, or else they thought 
that I was joking, for they misdirected me so often 
that I ended at last by going exactly in the oppo- 
site direction to that in which I wished to go. 
Owing to all these mistakes, I found myself one 
day in a great, and apparently a boundless, forest. 
I was dying of thirst; I searched for some wild 
berries with which to quench my thirst. I even- 
tually found some black fruit resembling wild 
raspberries growing on a very thorny tree ; while 
looking for these berries I lost my way. While 
I was lamenting my cruel fate, I heard a postil- 
lion's horn behind me. I turned round and saw 
a post-chaise in the distance. I then went and sat 
down on a stone placed by the side of the high- 
road, on which were engraved the words : " Doctor 
Martin Luther." As the postillion advanced I 
begged him to tell me if I was on the road to 
Berlin, and if he was going there. A young man 
sitting inside the chaise cried : " Stop, noble 
brother ! " (a local greeting) and he immediately 
began to question me, either for sake of curiosity 
or perhaps because he pitied my miserable con- 
dition. Touched, no doubt, by my reply, he offered 
me a place by his side, saying that he would take 
me as far as Wittenberg. I accepted his kind 
offer without demur and got into the carriage. 
During the journey he questioned me freely, and 
asked what my wallet contained. " I do no 



208 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

know," I replied, " for it belongs to my comrade, 
and I have not yet opened it." " That is strange," 
replied he ; and, having seized it, he hastened to 
open it. When my new protector saw that it only 
contained rags he began to laugh and to chaff me, 
telling me to throw away this old knapsack be- 
cause it might compromise me ; he was just going 
to throw the rags out of the carriage window when 
he suddenly stopped, crying: " Stop ! there's some- 
thing else in here." So saying, he seized his pen- 
knife and ripped up one of the seams of the wallet. 
We found, wrapped in divers pieces of old paper 
and rag, more than sixteen hundred francs in gold. 
" Oh ! " cried the stranger, " your comrade was a 
noble fellow: he gave you all his fortune when 
you were arrested, whereas he might have claimed 
it all if he had wished to do so when he felt 
the pinch of poverty. Certainly he preferred to 
lose everything rather than betray you. Ah ! 
what a generous creature ! " he repeated. We 
reached Wittenberg, and alighted at the Hotel de 
la Grappe d'or. My first care was to change my 
clothes. He himself shaved me, arranged my 
hair, and soon no one would have recognized me. 
" Now," said this benevolent stranger, " how are 
you going to cross the Prussian frontier ? They are 
very strict about passports, and you have none. 
Well," said he, " we will manage it somehow." 
He summoned a person, who lent him his equi- 
page, in which I was taken on the morrow to 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 209 

Treinpretzen, the first town on the Prussian fron- 
tier. From this place he escorted me in the post- 
chaise as far as Potsdam, from whence he had me 
taken in a private carriage to BerHn, where he 
had preceded me, having left Potsdam before me ; 
he took lodgings for me in the Hotel de I'Aigle- 
Noir. 

After resting for a few days, I inquired about 
the regiment mentioned to me by Frederic ; I 
went to the commander, and, according to my 
friend's instructions, answered all his questions. 
However, the officer informed me that his Majesty 
would not allow foreigners to enlist in his army. 
Humiliated by this refusal, and certain private 
events having prevented me from obtaining an 
audience with the king, I was obliged to make 
up my mind to do something to gain my living, 
because my funds, or rather Friedrichs' funds, were 
beginning to diminish. This was towards the end 
of 1810. So I hired an apartment at No. 52, 
Schutzengasse, where I set up as a clockmaker in 
order to earn my bread. While buying a watch 
for myself I had made the acquaintance of another 
clockmaker named Weiler, who helped me in my 
business, which, in a short time, became quite a 
prosperous affair. The mayor of Berlin then 
raised objections because I had not been authorized 
to exercise my profession. He summoned me to 
appear before him ; by Weiler's advice, I asked 

for permission to reside in the town of Berlin. 

14 



210 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

The mayor then asked for my passport, certificate 
of birth and certificate of good conduct. Now I 
possessed none of these documents. Meanwhile, 
Madame Sonnenfeld, widow of a clockmaker of the 
same name, a native of Rattsweil, had undertaken 
to keep house for me. She was an excellent 
creature ; I confided my secret to her, and told her 
of this new trouble. She suggested that we should 
apply to M. Lecoque, a Frenchman who, at that 
time, occupied the post of president of police in the 
Prussian kingdom. I approved this plan and wrote 
to this gentleman, telling him of my royal birth 
and of my position in Berlin. M. Lecoque came 
to see me, and, having shown me my letter, asked 
me if I had written it. I replied in the affirmative; 
he then questioned me severely, and asked me to 
furnish him with some proofs of my identity. 
Luckily I still possessed the coat containing my 
treasure. I unripped the collar in his presence, took 
out the papers and showed them to him. He 
recognized my mother's handwriting, as well as my 
father's signature and seal. He then left me in 
order to go and receive the king's commands con- 
cerning my fate. On the morrow he begged me 
to lend him my papers, as he wished to show them 
to his Majesty. At first I refused, and insisted 
upon a personal interview with the king. He 
informed me that my request could not be gratified 
just at that time ; " but," he added, " you will see his 
Majesty as soon as the president of the ministry. 



THE MEMOmS OF NAUNDORFF 211 

prince von Harttenberg, has read your papers." 
After having taken the precaution to cut out the 
impress of my father's seal, I gave M. Lecoque all 
these papers. However, he only took my mother's 
document, and departed, promising to help me, and 
assuring me that I should be subjected to no further 
persecutions, because he v^as going to write to the 
magistrates of Berlin concerning my affairs. A 
few weeks later, notwithstanding this promise, the 
magistrate again summoned me to appear before 
him. I went to M. Lecoque's house ; he took 
possession of the summons and told me that I need 
not be anxious, that I should soon know my fate, 
and that a slight delay had been caused because the 
minister had not yet given his decision. A short 
time afterwards M. Lecoque sent for me, and said: 
" We cannot let you remain in Berlin: it is too 
dangerous both for you and for ourselves. It is 
not in the mayor's power to exempt you from pro- 
ducing the necessary papers." He questioned me 
as to the person whom I had met in the forest 
near Diebingen. I could tell him nothing, except 
that I knew that his surname was Naundorff, and 
that he was a native of Weimar. M. Lecoque 
obtained this gentleman's passport from the police, 
and advised me, if I wished to escape further perse- 
cution, to set up in business under my friend's name 
in some small town near the capital. " In order 
to facilitate matters for you," continued he, " I 
will send you a licence, so that you will be free 



212 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

to choose whatever town you prefer. Therefore, 
when the mayor of your new residence asks you to 
produce your papers, tell him that you have left 
them in M. Lecoque's care." I replied that I had 
not enough money to defray the expenses of a 
removal. " Ah ! that is true," cried he. Then, 
opening his escritoire, he gave me a packet of gold 
pieces, saying : " Use these for your present needs ; 
I will take care of your future." A few days later 
an unknown individual, a member of the police 
force, brought to my house a licence for Charles- 
Guillaume NaundorfF. I was left in peace until 
1812, when I went to live in Spandau by the 
advice of M. Lecoque, who recommended me to 
exercise great caution, and repeated that the 
slightest imprudence on my part would ruin me, 
because the king of Prussia was powerless to act as 
he wished to do. I must also, at all costs, take 
another name if I wished to escape further perse- 
cution at Napoleon's hands. The president once 
more examined M. NaundorfF's passport very 
attentively, so that he might see if the description 
of that gentleman answered in any way to myself. 
" Black hair," said he aloud, " black eyes — no ! 
that won't do. Tell the magistrate," he added, 
" what I have just told you. I will attend to 
everything else." He then wrote the names 
Charles-Guillaume on a piece of paper, which he 
put in his pocket. I therefore went to Spandau, 
and when the mayor of that town demanded my 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 213 

papers so that he could grant me permission to 
reside in Spandau, I acted as M. Lecoque had 
advised me to do, and begged the burgomaster to 
ask my friend to forward my papers to him. My 
borrowed name having been inscribed on the 
registers, I obtained permission to inhabit the town 
of Spandau. I think that the president must have 
forgotten our agreement, for he gave my name to 
the burgomaster as Charles-Louis Naundorff. 

Notwithstanding this inadvertency — if, indeed, 
it was such — I obtained permission to reside in the 
town of Spandau, and the deed was solemnly signed 
in the presence of the town councillors. This 
event took place in 1 8 1 2, a few months after the 
retreat of the French army. Regiments passed 
daily through Spandau. Under these circumstances, 
M. Lecoque, either from fear of discovery or for 
some other reason, came to visit me and to give me 
some more money ; he impressed upon me the 
necessity of observing the greatest secrecy. I had 
a twofold reason to follow this line of conduct, for 
I myself feared that I might be discovered. 
Luckily, the garrison of the town was composed at 
that time of Dutch and Polish soldiers. A certain 
officer, a friend of the French commander, lodged 
at the house in which I dwelt, and through him I 
learnt everything that went on. I seem to witness 
Napoleon's fall with my own eyes. After this 
event I wrote both to M. Lecoque and the prince 
von Harttenberg, but I received no reply to either 



214 THE KING WHO NEVEK REIGNED 

of my letters. Russian and Prussian troops then 
blockaded Spandau, where I found myself an un- 
willing captive. The town had previously received 
some Polish reinforcements, whose ranks were 
infested with yellow fever and decimated by that 
fell disease. I was endeavouring to leave the town 
when I, too, fell ill, and soon lost consciousness. 
As the town was being bombarded by the Prussian 
and Russian batteries, the inhabitants, including 
the sick and wounded, were obliged to take refuge 
in the cellars. Only the poor stranger, abandoned 
by every one save God and the unhappy Madame 
Sonnenfeld, only the outlaw of the whole universe, 
remained exposed to the bombs and bullets which 
were being hurled simultaneously from ten batteries. 
Notwithstanding, or rather on account of, this 
danger of which I was at that time ignorant, 
Madame Sonnenfeld never left my room or my 
bedside. 

Your faubourgs had already been devastated when 
the Russians pointed their batteries towards the 
centre of the town, and that same night, about ten 
o'clock, fire broke out in all directions. The fire, 
as if by a miracle, stopped before the house in 
which I dwelt. I use the word miracle, for the 
buildings adjoining my residence and under the 
same roof, were burnt to the ground ; my room 
alone escaped and was untouched by the fire. This 
fact was then so well known that, even to-day, 
more than six thousand inhabitants of Spandau can 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 215 

witness to the truth of the above statement. The 
destruction of this town is an historical fact. 

When I recovered my health and liberty, I 
applied to the king of Prussia, to the emperors 
of Russia and Austria, and to the prince von 
Harttenberg, as well as to M. Lecoque. I never 
received any replies to my letters. 

In 1816 I sent to Madame la duchesse 
d'Angouleme, M. Marsin or Marassin, formerly an 
officer in Napoleon's army; and in order to facilitate 
an interview with her Royal Highness, I provided 
him with certain proofs of my identity, and even 
charged him to play my part. I know not what 
became of him. They told me that he had 
been arrested and imprisoned in Rouen, that an 
individual, bearing the name of Mathurin Bruneau, 
had been substituted in his place and that he had 
been got rid of. In order not to interrupt the 
thread of my narrative, I will confine myself during 
this story to a short description of this officer and 
of his behaviour. I shall add, at the end of this 
volume, some explanatory notes, together with 
copies of the letters written by myself to the 
diffisrent exiled members of the royal family. 

In 18 18 I sent to the due de Berry a formal 
declaration in the interests of his children's future ; 
and I had determined to go to France when 
Madame Sonnenfeld became dangerously ill, and 
I was prevented from putting my project into 
execution. Remembering her devotion to me 



216 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

during my own illness, I could not make up my 
mind to leave her while she was in this condition. 
It was she, in fact, who had saved my life during 
the siege of Spandau. She died in 1818. After 
her death I determined, for private reasons, to 
renounce all idea of reappearing upon the world's 
stage, and to resign myself to oblivion. I therefore 
married, on October 18 of the same year, Mile. 
Jeanne Finers, who had lost her father, and whose 
family, of noble descent, had been defrauded of 
their title and rights by long and cruel misfortunes. 

My wife, at the time of our marriage, was 
fifteen and a half years of age, and I swear that, 
until this day, I have never for a single moment 
regretted my choice. However, I shall ever regret 
that I did not keep faithful to my resolution to 
forget the world and to devote myself exclusively 
to the welfare of my little family; but man proposes 
and God disposes. 

I became a father on August 31, 18 19. The 
letter which I wrote on that occasion to Madame 
la duchesse d'Angouleme is reproduced at the end 
of this volume. I was now a citizen of the town 
of Spandau, which town I inhabited, not for two 
years only, as the Gazette de Prusse asserts, but 
from 1812 until 1821, that is to say, ten consecu- 
tive years. Meanwhile I was considering how I 
could force the minister, the prince von Hartten- 
berg, to give up my papers, which were still in his 
possession. I therefore determined to take the 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 217 

part of the burgomaster Dabercow, and I upheld 
him when he refused to submit to the minister 
when the latter ordered him to be deprived of his 
post ; my opposition and the energy with which I 
upheld my friend, both by word and deed, proved 
to the minister that I did not fear him. The 
prince von Harttenberg, wishing to thwart my 
plans, hinted to the king that it would be as well 
to appoint the discharged burgomaster to some 
state post ; and having received orders to that effect 
from his Majesty's cabinet, the famous struggle, 
which had been irritating the inhabitants of 
Spandau for so many months, suddenly ceased, and 
Dabercow was given a good position in Branden- 
burg, where he went to reside. This diplomatic 
transaction vexed me extremely. I left Spandau 
and went to dwell in the town now inhabited by 
the former burgomaster Dabercow. I now en- 
countered fresh difficulties, for, in order to obtain 
permission to reside in this town, I had to produce 
my papers. 

No one knew who I was except the former 
burgomaster of Spandau, M. Kattfuss, who, I fancy, 
must have learnt the truth either from the govern- 
ment or from the president of the police. The 
following incident made me think that I had 
guessed aright. I was invited one day to a public 
dinner in the Hotel du Palais, where I was given 
a seat opposite the burgomaster, who chatted 
with me and seemed to take much interest in my 



218 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

conversation. At the end of the dinner he arose and 
embraced me most affectionately, saying : " This is 
not your place ! " I saw tears gleaming in this 
venerable old man's eyes as he pressed my hand. I 
have since had reason to suspect that M. Lecoque 
had confided my secret to him, for M. Kattfuss v^as, 
on my arrival in Spandau, chief burgomaster of 
that town. 

During the year 1820 I wrote for the last time 
to the due de Berry, who then sent me an answer, 
in which he informed me that he had been deceived 
concerning my identity. This letter, which some- 
what consoled me, was dated, if I am not mistaken, 
February 3, ten days before his assassination. 
Certain incidents, which I cannot now reveal, 
caused me to determine to go to France and to 
find my sister. A series of events prevented my 
departure. I was now the father of two children, 
and my first duty was to provide for their future. 
Therefore I bought a house in Brandenburg. 
During this transaction I made the acquaintance 
of a dishonest fellow, who brought a lawsuit 
against me, which obliged me, as an honourable 
man, to remain in Prussia. Two false witnesses 
appeared and gave evidence against me; and just 
as I was about to prove their perfidy, I was sud- 
denly arrested under the ridiculous pretext that I 
had tried to pass bad money. The examining 
magistrate who issued the warrant for my appre- 
hension, anxious to support this abominable lie. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 219 

chose to believe the assertions of a witness who 
swore that he had seen me on September 15, about 
seven o'clock at night, throw a sack apparently full 
of ecus into the Spree ; in order to make his story 
appear more plausible, he added that he was so 
close to me at that moment that the water had 
splashed his face, although the bridge on which 
he declared he was standing was thirty feet high. 
Can we not hear the elders denouncing the chaste 
Susanna ? 

The prevaricating magistrate made this dis- 
gusting perjurer swear, in my presence, to the 
truth of this statement, which was then inscribed in 
the public register. A few days later he sent for 
me, and had the impudence to say : " Do you 
still deny the deed ? Here is a witness who saw 
you throw the sack into the water." By the mercy 
of Providence I happened to be absent from 
Brandenburg on the date mentioned by the witness. 
The fact that I had been arrested on my return at 
nine o'clock at night proved how clumsily this 
false witness had played his cards. Notwithstand- 
ing this fact, the examining magistrate, wishing 
to support my accuser, prolonged the proceedings ; 
I was, therefore, forced to call witnesses from all 
the four corners of the globe, for, at that hour, I 
happened to be driving in a public conveyance with 
several other travellers, all of whom had to give 
evidence to that effect. It was eventually proved 
that this witness was a worthless perjurer. I asked 



220 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

that he might be dealt with according to the law- 
concerning perjury. The magistrate refused to 
do justice to me, and persuaded another individual, 
named Libhert, a student and the son of a pro- 
prietor of the public coach, to support the false 
witness. I made the examining magistrate repeat 
the lie in my presence. This M. Libhert was 
going to take holy orders. When he appeared, I 
asked him if he had followed the road prescribed 
by his religion, and if lying in the open court was 
a good preparation for the vocation which he wished 
to adopt. " What do you mean, sir .? " replied 
he. I then called upon the magistrate to read his 
evidence. The young man cried out, with great 
indignation : " Sir, I never uttered those words." I 
began again, and addressed the lawyer in the follow- 
ing terms : "This is another of your victims, M. 
Schulz." He replied very sharply : " Accuse him, 
if you will." But, turning to the witness, I re- 
assured him in a few words : " I do not mean to 
do you any harm, because you are going to take 
holy orders, because you are still very young, and 
because you acted under a false understanding. 
However, you ought to realize in what a difficult 
position your conduct has placed me." 

I was moved to pardon him for another and 
a different reason ; this false evidence had been 
involuntarily reduced to naught by the judge 
himself. Notwithstanding this justification, which 
proved beyond all doubt that I had been cruelly 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 221 

slandered, the examining magistrate notified the 
cashier Neuman, to whom I had paid for the 
purchase of my house the sum of six hundred and 
fifty ecus only a week before my incarceration, to 
appear before him. This Neuman declared that 
he had found among the coins paid by me into his 
hands fifteen bad ecus. Any one can see that this 
third witness, like his two predecessors, had been 
bribed to give evidence against me. Can any one 
suppose that a public accountant would not have 
immediately detected any false coins ? Is it likely 
that, if the money had really been bad, he 
would have waited nearly a week before accusing 
the person who paid him the said money .? More- 
over, could an accountant, who was in the habit 
of receiving large sums of money from various 
individuals, tell for certain the name of the person 
who either intentionally or unintentionally had 
given him bad money .? And yet Neuman clung 
obstinately to his wicked assertion. I then de- 
manded that he should be sworn, to which operation, 
as he was unwilling to incur the treatment meted 
out by me to his two predecessors, he refused to 
submit. So his evidence was utterly valueless. 
Emboldened by this and other underhand pro- 
ceedings the judge ordered me, untried and 
therefore uncondemned, to be imprisoned. In 
order to justify this infamous and iniquitous action, 
the magistrate sent me, shortly afterwards, a copy of 
the following decree : 



222 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

" Whereas the signs pointing to the culpability 
of the accused, Charles-Guillaume NaundorfF, are 
not sufficient to condemn him, in this case a 
sentence is necessary, because he has behaved, 
throughout his trial, like an impudent liar, claim- 
ing to be of royal birth, and giving us to understand 
that he belonged to the royal house of Bourbon." 

I must now explain the meaning of this strange 
decree. My invisible persecutors had caused the 
examining magistrate to question me about my 
family and my birth. Trusting in his honour and 
reassured that I need fear nothing, thanks to M. 
Lecoque's precautions, I replied that I was a native 
of Weimar ; moreover, I loathed the idea of 
revealing my real origin amid such repulsive 
surroundings. The magistrate at Weimar having 
contradicted my statement, the examining magis- 
trate repeated : " If you belong to an honourable 
family, why don't you tell the truth .? " " Sir," 
replied I, " I am of royal birth, and my unhappy 
fate is quite undeserved ; but I myself cannot 
reveal the truth to you. If you wish to unravel 
the mystery, you must apply to his Majesty the 
king of Prussia, the prince von Harttenberg and 
the president Lecoque, all of whom are well aware 
of my high social position." 

" Pooh ! " cried he, " that is not true ! " 
" It is not for you to judge me," I added ; 
" write to the king : that is all you have to do." 
" Then," he concluded, " we will refer the case 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 223 

to the minister von Harttenberg, and await his 
decision." 

A statement was immediately drawn up and 
signed by myself, the judge and M. de Renne, 
who, at that time, was the referendary. From that 
day no one troubled himself further about my 
identity, and I was left in peace upon this subject. 
As an infallible proof of the truth of my assertions, 
I request my readers to consult the documents 
preserved among the archives judiciaires. I will 
now ask a question : who was it who first mooted 
the idea that I was a member of the Bourbon 
family ? For I personally contented myself with 
declaring that I was of royal birth. 

Signs of culpability are mentioned in the decree 
passed by the Supreme Court : what does that 
mean ? Was there really the slightest shadow of 
truth contained in the evidence of these three 
perjurers ? Was there any truth in the evidence 
of that knave Neuman, who, like Judas, betrayed 
his innocent victim in order to ruin him, and like 
that traitor-deicide, tortured by remorse, a fort- 
night after my transfer to the prison, in a fit of 
despair, hung himself in the Palais de Justice in the 
very apartment in which he had accomplished his 
crime ? More than ten thousand inhabitants of 
Brandenburg knew well that it was not I who coined 
the false money; and no one ever pretended that 
I was the person who placed that money on the 
market. On the contrary, all those who have ever 



224 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

done any business with me have always spoken very 
highly in my favour. But the fiat had gone forth 
that I was to be persecuted ; I was to fall a victim 
to certain infamous machinations. All Europe 
shall learn of my misfortunes, and of the under- 
hand dealings of my enemies, who, in order to 
perpetrate their criminal designs, assumed numerous 
disguises. I will quote a few more examples. 

Owing to the lawsuit concerning the purchase 
of my house, I went to live with a former post- 
master, M. Schernbeck. This man was a rich 
widower, who kept a store of several hundred ecus 
hidden in a coffer in his bedroom. He was an 
easy-going fellow, and, as I disliked company, I 
used to spend my evenings with him, and thus I 
became acquainted with his eldest daughter who 
kept house for him. One evening M. Schernbeck 
asked me to help him discover a thief who, he 
informed me, evidently dwelt in the same house, 
and who was gradually stealing all his money from 
him. 

" Are you really so blind," replied I to him, 
" that you cannot guess who is the culprit ? " 

" What do you mean, sir .? " cried he. 

" Well," I answered, " would you like to see 
the thief ? " 

" Yes, and at once, if you please ! " 

I then summoned his eldest daughter, closed 
the door, and told her father to search her pockets, 
where he found a false key which fitted the lock 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 225 

of his coffer. His daughter, who was only seven- 
teen years of age, had been persuaded by some 
wicked friends to steal from her father. When 
she saw that her theft had been discovered, she fell 
on her knees, confessed her sin, and swore that she 
would alter her conduct. I was happy enough to 
be able to reconcile the father and daughter. I 
promised never to reveal the secret, and then left 
the house, where I began to perceive that I was not 
a favourite. Schernbeck himself confessed this fact 
to me, and told me that certain persons had sought 
to calumniate me. I then chose as my residence 
the house of a master-tailor named Cravathe. One 
morning a few weeks later, a police-ofhcer came 
to inform me that my former host, M. Schernbeck, 
had been murdered. This officer hinted that I 
was suspected of the crime. Innocence and calm 
dignity ever walked hand in hand. I immediately 
dressed myself and went to the house of the victim, 
whom I found still alive and seated in his arm- 
chair, surrounded by poHce-ofKcers. I begged to 
be allowed to make investigations in the magis- 
trate's presence. My request having been granted, 
I discovered the truth and unmasked the guilty 
person. I informed M. Zanden, who, I beheve, 
was a relation of the family, of my success. The 
wretched girl was arrested, and on the morrow she 
confessed the crime. She received the king's 
pardon on account of her youth, and was only 

sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. The 
15 



226 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

whole town of Brandenburg can bear witness to 
the truth of my statement. 

While the lawsuit concerning the purchase of 
my house was in progress, and previous to the 
indictment of forgery, the theatre of Brandenburg 
was burnt down during the night. Before I could 
defend myself, I found that the government of 
Potsdam had ordered the magistrate, M. Voigt, 
to accuse me of the crime. However, I was 
not arrested. These numerous misfortunes over- 
whelmed me and crushed me to the ground ; but 
I tried to console myself with the thought that my 
fellow-citizens, and my neighbours in especial, still 
esteemed me, and believed in my innocence ; they 
showed, by their affectionate sympathy, their in- 
dignation at beholding my innocence and courage 
put to such a cruel test by the base conduct of my 
enemies. Subsequent inquiries and trustworthy 
evidence proved the enormity of the calumny in- 
vented by those who wished to blacken me in the 
eyes of the world. Then, when these inhuman 
monsters saw that the result of their machinations 
would only put to shame the instigators of these 
iniquitous plots, they used the ruins of this absurd 
charge of arson to make the accusation of forgery 
as already related by me, and, in order to confirm this 
new calumny, threw me into prison. The two ex- 
aminations took place simultaneously. Two of the 
false witnesses who had given evidence against me 
during the trial concerning the purchase of my 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 227 

house, went about the town saying that it was I 
who had set the theatre on fire. Notwithstanding 
my deplorable condition and the meagre funds at 
my disposal, these two wretches were, by the 
mercy of Providence, unmasked and sentenced to 
the pillory with two years' penal servitude. The 
accuser paid for his iniquitous conduct with three 
months' imprisonment. The magistrate at Bran- 
denburg was condemned to pay all the costs of the 
lawsuit. There are compensations even in the 
midst of the cruellest misfortunes, and persecuted 
innocence occasionally enjoys moments of respite 
during the most wicked persecutions. While I 
was in prison M. Voigt came to visit me that he 
might congratulate me upon my success and inform 
me that the Supreme Court had cleared my 
character of the infamous crime imputed to my 
charge by the government of Potsdam. 

Let my readers remember the certificate of 
good conduct earned by me at Spandau ; let them 
remember the genuine and unanimous evidence 
of more than six thousand inhabitants of that town 
in which I resided nearly ten years, and then let 
my readers ask themselves if an habitually honest 
man is likely to become, in such a short time, a 
consummate villain. 

My friend, the examining magistrate, was 
the only person who seemed displeased by my late 
triumph ; he could not conceal his annoyance, and 
even dared to insult me one day by saying : " Your 



228 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

acquittal after this, your last lawsuit, does not 
prove your innocence ; you can undeceive yourself 
if you think that you are going to slip so easily 
through my fingers." 

" Wretch ! " cried I, " I require you this very 
instant to make a statement to the Supreme Court, 
and I demand the help of another examining 
magistrate." 

Having made him draw up a statement, which 
he has since destroyed, he said: " I must first finish 
this case and then I will find you another 
examining magistrate." 

I have since learnt that this prevaricating 
magistrate had communicated to the Supreme 
Court certain infamous calumnies which resulted 
in my remaining in prison until 1828. 

In that year, the blameless son of the martyr- 
king was obliged to endure the humiliation of 
receiving pardon on condition that he ceased to 
reside either in Brandenburg or in Berlin. In 
order to keep up my courage, which was rapidly 
sinking under the weight of all these misfortunes, 
the baron von SackendorfFfiDund some employment 
for me in Silesia ; but this stroke of good luck was 
doomed never to be mine, for I had no money with 
which to defray my own and my family's travelling 
expenses. I was completely ruined. It is true 
that a gentleman, M. von Hagen, son of the 
prefect, baron von Hagen-Ahoennauen, owed me 
two thousand six hundred francs on a bill of 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 229 

exchange. I went to see this gentleman, who 
promised to pay in two days' time and persuaded 
me to go and wait for him in Brandenburg ; I 
did so. 

Hardly had I arrived in this town, when the 
burgomaster Zanden summoned me to appear 
before him, and informed me that the public 
prosecutor (who, in that country, is called the 
juge du dome) had been ordered to put me^ into 
prison if I did not immediately leave for Silesia, 
This harsh treatment obliged me to sell my 
belongings to the highest bidder, and thus my poor 
wife was forced to part with the few household 
treasures which she had hitherto managed to keep. 

I left, together with my family, the town in 
which I had endured many long and bitter hours, 
thanks to the inhumanity of my fellow-creatures. 
I took nothing with me except a few pieces of 
clockwork, and a bed for my children, the last 
vestiges of a fortune earned by the sweat of my 
brow. For pecuniary reasons, I was detained 
nearly a week in Berlin, and when I reached Silesia 
I found that my place had already been given to 
another workman. The town council agreed, for 
charity's sake, to grant me the sum of sixteen ecus 
instead of the forty ecus promised to me. Indig- 
nant at such treatment, I retired to Grossen, a little 
town in Prussia : I have forgotten the date of my 
arrival. I can only remember the fact that we 
arrived on a Sunday evening, and that night had 



230 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

already fallen when I and my family found our- 
selves in the market-place of Grossen, moneyless, 
except for the forty-eight francs in my pocket. 
On the morrow our distress was brightened by 
a gleam of hope. I begged to be allowed to reside 
in that town ; on showing my passport from 
Brandenburg, together with my certificate of resi- 
dence as the head of a family in Brandenburg and 
Berlin, and the old certificate of good conduct 
given to me in 1824, while I was a resident of the 
former town, my request was granted without 
further trouble, although I did not possess the 
necessary papers. Providence did not abandon me 
in my distress. Kind friends found work for me ; 
I slaved day and night and I quickly earned the 
esteem of my fellow-citizens. My intelligence 
inspired them with confidence, and, thanks to my 
untiring industry, I soon managed to drive the 
wolf from the door. 

In a short time I had so many customers that I 
was obliged to engage a workman to help me. 
Then the Brandenburg magistrates charged their 
confrere at Grossen to order me to pay a sum of 
over one hundred ecus, representing the balance of 
the costs of my last lawsuit. The magistrate at 
Grossen refused to comply with this demand, and 
accorded me his protection ; however, this episode 
ruined my business and deprived me of my fellow- 
citizens' esteem. In a short time I spent the little 
fortune amassed at the cost of such infinite pains. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDOKFF 231 

Notwithstanding the persecution to which I was 
subjected at the hands of the magistrates at 
Brandenburg, rumours began to circulate concern- 
ing my royal origin with such persistency that the 
commissary of police and syndic of Grossen re- 
quested me to tell him the truth. He seemed such 
a worthy man that I determined to confide my 
secret to him. So I sent him the proofs of my 
identity ; whereupon he immediately wrote to his 
Majesty the king of Prussia and to Charles X, 
asking them to tell him how he was to act. He 
even wrote to my sister, who sent him the reply 
which is now in my possession. I prefer to think 
that my sister was deceived by her friends. At all 
events, the truth will be proclaimed some day. 

I then wrote to Charles X, and sent my letter 
through the French ambassador at the court of 
Berlin, M. le comte d'Agoust. In 1830 I wrote 
for the last time to my family ; shortly after this 
the Bourbons were banished from France. I never 
received any replies to my letters. Notwithstand- 
ing this cruel injustice, I still felt affection for my 
family ; and, as soon as I heard of their arrival 
at Holyrood, I sent an express messenger with 
despatches to them : as heretofore, they passed 
over my communications in silence. 

However, my charge d'affaires continued to beg 
in my name that my case might be tried again in 
Brandenburg : he declared that it had been con- 
ducted in an infamous manner, and offered to 



232 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

convict the examining magistrate of knavery. 
The ministers rejected my lawyer's request. He 
then determined to write to the king himself, and 
went to Berlin, where he asked for an audience 
with his Majesty, which, however, he could not 
obtain. But his dogged determination and his 
profound knowledge of the laws of his country 
finally triumphed over all obstacles, and the neces- 
sary documents were at last given into his charge. 
Then the prince von Carolatz and his secretary 
von Seuden came to visit me while I was in 
Grossen ; as the prince was travelling incognito, I 
did not know who he was. However, just at the 
last moment, as he was about to leave my room, 
they told me the name of my mysterious visitor. 
I charged M. Pezold to ask the meaning of this 
behaviour. I will say no more upon this subject : 
my pen refuses to relate such unscrupulous conduct. 
Shortly after this visit my charge d'affaires, the 
worthy M. Pezold, fell sick ; his valuable life was 
endangered by a severe internal inflammation : had 
it not been for Dr. Hesius' clever discernment and 
prompt measures he must have died. At last he 
was able to resume his daily occupations. Alas ! 
'twas but for a short time. One day his landlady 
brought him a cup of soup ; hardly had he tasted 
it when, pushing the woman away, he cried : 
" My God ! you've poisoned me ! " Whereupon 
he fainted, and died March i6, 1832. The corpse 
immediately turned black, and the lower part of 




CH AllLE S - PHILIPPE ^ 



COMTE B'AKTOIS } W-^Sil 1 ^i^^^^ ^^^ 



LDE PRINCE MOlX.SIEfT 
i DTT HOI, 



0'^.. 1)1-0 1-5- . 



CHARLES X. 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 233 

the abdomen became so swollen that his friends 
were obliged to take precautions in order to pre- 
vent any epidemic in the house. I begged his 
brother, who was then still alive, to have the 
body examined ; he replied that such a proceed- 
ing would not bring the dead man back to life. 
Immediately after this loyal friend's death, seals 
were placed on all his belongings, and his post was 
given to a man named Lauriscus, who was to 
continue the deceased lawyer's business ; this ex- 
cellent fellow promised to look after my interests. 
A month later, before I could obtain possession of 
even one of my papers, he died suddenly, and all 
M. Pezold's belongings were seized. I have never 
been able to get back any of my own papers. 
M. Pezold had pleaded my case in the presence 
of the ministers in Berlin, and even before his 
Majesty. On one occasion only did we ever 
receive any reply from M. Albrecht, the king's 
chief secretary. 

It is by no means my intention to humiliate 
the feeble Charles X ; however, his behaviour 
towards me obliges me at least to tell the truth. 
After the death of my friend Pezold, in 1832, 
I tried once more to get a letter to him. In 
accordance with my feelings as an honourable 
man, I invited him to come to Prussia, so that he 
might be reconciled with me. The missive was 
addressed to my sister. 

Let my family say, if they dare, what was in 



234 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

that letter ! Well, I never received any reply 
to that letter or to any other ! I waited for three 
months in the hope that I should hear something. 
... A kind but anonymous friend w^rote to me 
from Berlin that his Majesty, the king of Prussia, 
by his minister's advice, had ordered me to be 
arrested and imprisoned in a fortress, but that there 
was still time for me to escape. I went to the 
police on the morrow, and asked for a passport 
for abroad : it was refused on the grounds that the 
Government alone could give me such a document. 
Then I asked for a passport to Berlin, so that I 
could go and protest against such proceedings. I 
was given a passport in the name of Charles-Louis, 
a native of Versailles. I then pretended to set out 
for Berlin ; but instead of following the road 
leading to that town, I secretly left the kingdom. 
I soon arrived, without any mishaps, at Dresden in 
Saxony, where I begged to be allowed to have an 
audience with the royal family, to whom I was 
related. Thanks to the intrigues of the king's 
confessor, Kunitz, the police, under the pretext 
that my passport was not available for foreign 
lands, ordered me to leave Dresden. I was there- 
fore forced to turn my steps towards France. 
This was a difficult undertaking, however, for 
I possessed neither passport nor money. I was 
wondering how I could get over this difficulty, 
when the all-powerful God came to my aid. A 
man who had just come from Poland, and whose 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 235 

acquaintance I had made on my journey, offered 
to go and visit the French ambassador in Dresden, 
for he declared that he knew a way by which he 
could oblige him to put my passport in order 
for this journey. I accepted his offer. This is 
what he told me on his return. As soon as the 
ambassador saw my transport, he exclaimed : 

" But you are not a Frenchman." 

" That does not matter to you, sir," replied my 
messenger ; " it is not for you to judge my actions. 
Will you sign it, or will you not .? " 

" I cannot," he repeated ; " you are a Prussian." 

" Once more," replied the stranger, " that is no 
business of yours. I ask you to sign this passport 
^o France, and I beg you to tell me if you intend 
to do so." 

" Apply to my secretary, insolent fellow," re- 
torted the ambassador, shutting himself up in his 
own room. 

" His servants had to repeat the latter sentence 
twice before I consented to go away," said my 
messenger. 

He finally went to see the ambassador's secre- 
tary, baron de Belleval, and informed him that the 
ambassador had sent him to have his passport signed 
for France. 

" Do you want to go to that country, then ? " 
asked the secretary. 

And when my friend answered that such was 
his intention, the secretary shook his head, signed 



236 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the passport, and ? gave it back to him. I was 
waiting for him in front of the embassy. T 
thanked him and then went home, where I looked 
over my passport and satisfied myself that every- 
thing was in order. Though I had overcome one 
difficulty, there still remained another, and an 
equally grave one, to vanquish. I had about four 
sous in my pocket, and my hotel bill was still 
unpaid. While ascending the stairs I met a little 
dark-haired man with a youth and two charming 
girls. The little dark-haired man first took me for 
one of his acquaintances, and invited me to come 
into his room, crying : " Ah, there you are ! " This 
exclamation made me think for a moment that 
he really knew me. Without more ado I went 
into his room, where we both discovered our 
mistake. This little man had a wonderfully 
angelic countenance, and seemed extremely kind- 
hearted; he immediately took a great fancy to me, 
and invited me to visit his family when I passed 
through the town in which he dwelt, and which 
was on the road to France. He left the hotel that 
very day, and on the morrow I took a carriage as 
far as his house, where I meant to stop and to ask 
him to help me. During a brief halt in the Plauen 
valley, my coachman amused himself by consuming 
a bottle of beer, for which he asked me to pay, as 
he had no money with him. I did so, and thus 
reduced my fortune to one sou. I soon reached 
the town, and in my new friend's home I found a 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 237 

very amiable woman, apparently about forty years 
of age, who welcomed me as if I were a long-lost 
friend. She went to fetch her husband, and brought 
her children, who received me with the greatest 
kindness. In the middle of this affectionate inter- 
view I told them that I was in great trouble. 
However, I did not reveal my identity. 

" Well, my friend, that does not matter," said 
he ; "a real friend must prove his friendship. 
How much do you want ? " 

I asked for twenty ecus. 

" Is that all .? " replied he. " Here they are ! " 

My friend, whose name was Kishauere, was a 
clergyman in Freiberg, six leagues from Dresden. 
This gentleman's kind-hearted family begged me to 
stay at least a couple of days with them. I dismissed 
my driver, to whom I gave some money with which 
to pay the hotel-keeper. Two days later my loyal 
friend's son accompanied me some distance along 
the road to France. I then bade him farewell. I 
had been walking for about the space of two hours, 
when I suddenly beheld, seated under a tree by the 
side of the high-road, the man from Dresden who 
had taken so much trouble about my passport, and 
who was now returning to his own country. As 
I now had some money, I hastened to offer to 
pay him for the trouble which he had taken for 
me. This man was a Suabian. He shouldered 
my valise and followed me. As he had no money, 
I paid his expenses at the different inns in which 



238 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

we passed the night ; this, together with the fact 
that he carried my belongings, made people think 
that he was my servant. 

As cholera was raging at that time, we were 
taken, on arriving at the Bavarian frontier, before 
the quarantine officer, and our passports were 
examined. Having read mine, the officer turned 
to me, saying : " There were some grand gentle- 
men here last night who inquired if you had 
already crossed the frontier." I then asked the 
names of these gentlemen. I was told that they 
were the French ambassador and M. de Belleval, 
his secretary. I said nothing, but, suspecting some 
treachery, I determined to be cautious. Having 
reached a little town, we passed the night in an 
inn filled with fugitive Polish officers. 

We continued our journey on the morrow. The 
Poles left the town the day after our departure; 
my friend being a slow walker, they soon over- 
took us. We then walked together as far as HoiF, 
where they persuaded me to stay in their hotel. 
One of the officers, promising to repay me, induced 
me to hire a carriage to take us to Nuremberg, 
where a society had been formed in order to pro- 
vide funds and shelter for the Polish fugitives. 
Two other officers came in the carriage with us, 
and we soon reached our destination. In the latter 
town I became acquainted with a merchant named 
Dreckfler, who declared that I was not the person 
I pretended to be, and besought me to tell him 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 239 

who I really was. I know not what caused him to 
think thus. Nevertheless, the head of the Nurem- 
berg society treated me with the greatest kindness, 
and paid all my expenses to France, as well as those 
of the Polish fugitives, out of the society's funds. 
In order to hide from the French ambassador's 
vigilant eye, I accepted his offers of assistance, and 
thinking that I should no longer want any money 
for my travelling expenses to France, I shared my 
little property with the Poles. These fugitives 
were under the guidance of a priest named Dom- 
prowski. My companion, a doctor in a Polish 
regiment, warned me to be careful, as this man 
meant to do me some harm. At Heilbronn we 
found the citizens of that town assembled in an 
hotel, waiting for the arrival of the fugitives with 
whom I was marching. During the dinner Dom- 
prowski made a long speech, and at the end of the 
repast many toasts were drunk. Suddenly cries of 
" Down with the tyrant ! Down with the traitors ! " 
were raised. At the same time they all fell upon 
me, screaming like madmen, and crying out that I 
was a spy. I know not how it was that Domprow- 
ski, who was a priest in the Catholic Church, and 
whom I should never have suspected capable of 
such conduct, came to guess that I carried papers 
of citizenship for the town of Brandenburg. He 
declared that my passport was a forgery ; and in 
his desire to do me harm, this wretch actually stole 
the paper from me. I suppose that he must have 



240 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

done so one evening when he shared a bedroom 
with me. In order to put an end to the disgrace- 
ful scene caused by this spiteful priest's behaviour, 
I retired to my own room. Domprowski, having 
thrown my papers down the drains, accused me at 
Heilbronn of possessing certain false documents, and 
in his anxiety to prove his statements, declared that 
he had discovered me in the very act of trying to get 
rid of these compromising documents by throwing 
them down the drains. 

Notwithstanding this vague evidence, I was 
arrested and thrown into prison. On the morrow 
I was taken before the examining magistrate, who 
asked me why I had thrown my forged passport 
down the drains. I requested him to call my 
accuser, so that I might prove him to be an im- 
postor, and his accusation a ridiculous story trumped 
up for some unknown end. 

" I cannot do so," he replied ; " the Poles have 
already left the town." 

" Well," I retorted, " of what do you accuse 
me.? Of carrying a false passport.? Can't you 
read, that you take for a false passport the docu- 
ment authorizing me to dwell in the town of 
Brandenburg, in Prussia? 'Tis a vast pity," I 
added, " that you arrest honest men at the com- 
plaint of unknown individuals, whom you allow 
to escape unpunished." 

He blamed me for this misadventure, which, 
he said, I had brought upon myself by consorting 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 241 

with unscrupulous persons. I was then liberated. 
I returned to the inn, where I was charged so 
much for my dinner that I found myself without 
a sou. However, I kept up my courage, and, 
trusting in Providence, continued my journey all 
alone. 

My readers must not think that the Polish 
priest's iniquitous schemes had succeeded : on the 
contrary. This man was only a tool in the hands 
of Providence and, while trying to harm me, he 
involuntarily rendered me a great service. I have 
since learnt that if I had crossed the French fron- 
tier I should have been thrown into prison. I 
could relate many adventures which, I am sure, 
would greatly interest my readers ; but my object 
is not to amuse : so I will confine myself to relat- 
ing simple facts connected with my personal 
history. I assert nothing which I cannot prove. 
And whenever my case is given a fair trial in 
court, I shall be able to clear up many points with 
the help of valuable and trustworthy evidence 
which, however, I cannot publish before the 
proper time, but which will shine forth as the 
bright sun shines in the heavens at midday. My 
family at Prague may publish, if they wish, the 
contents of the papers sent by me to the duchesse 
de Berri during her sojourn in la Vendee, for she 
received copies of the original documents. Being 
at that time in France, treachery forced me to 

take refuge in Switzerland. In Geneva I was 
i6 



242 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

again persecuted and betrayed ; I was detained six 
weeks in Berne in consequence of a letter received 
by Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme and sent by 
the ambassador, M. le comte de Bombelles. I do 
not lay the blame of my arrest to this ambassador : 
I never told him who I was ; on the contrary, 
I am thankful to say that he was extremely kind 
to me, and that it was owing to his intervention 
that I was liberated. But I was only able to 
escape persecution by leaving Switzerland and by 
going to Paris, where I arrived under an assumed 
name. May 26, 1833. 

I cannot refrain from mentioning the kindness 
of the Swiss people who, although they knew me 
not, stretched out a helping hand to help me 
during my misfortunes. Oh ! noble and hospit- 
able nation ! I cannot forget thy compatriots who 
were so generous towards me ! However, the time 
for showing my gratitude in public has not come 
yet ; but I remember all thy deeds of kindness, 
and the poor serving-maid who watched day and 
night by my bedside while I lay sick in Berne. 

In 1834 my sister fell ill in Dresden. I had 
already sent messages to her during her sojourn 
in Prague ; I wished to make one more effort to 
enlighten her ; but my friends, misled by my 
deceitful adversaries, refused to advance me the 
necessary funds, thereby making me lose much 
valuable time which my enemies turned to good 
account. M. Morel de Saint-Didier who, on one 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 243 

occasion, had managed to obtain an audience with 
Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme, was again 
dispatched on a similar mission, and this time he 
was accompanied by Madame de Rambaut, who 
had had charge of me since the day of my birth 
until 1792. When I arrived in Dresden, August 5, 
1834, it was too late. Madame de Rambaut and 
M. de Saint-Didier had been to Prague. Madame 
de Rambaut had begged in vain for an interview 
with her Royal Highness; she received a written 
answer to the effect that Madame la duchesse 
d'Angouleme could not believe that Madame de 
Rambaut had been able at her age to undertake such 
a long journey. Madame de Rambaut was forced 
to leave the town within twenty-four hours. 
M. Morel de Saint-Didier had been received on 
the previous evening; my sister declared that she 
would not see me, and that she was now quite 
convinced that I was an impostor and a very 
clever one. The result of this, my last endeavour, 
was utterly vain, because his Majesty the king of 
Prussia had allowed himself to be persuaded, by 
certain intriguers, to go incognito to Toeblitz. 
My sister told him frankly what certain persons 
had hinted to her, and Frederick the Just graciously 
assured Madame la duchesse dAngouleme that I 
was a lunatic who believed himself to be the son 
of Louis XVI, but who, in reality, belonged to a 
base-born German family. Let my readers decide 
for themselves whether lunatics are usually gifted 



244 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

with a talent for inventing clever schemes. These 
facts are absolutely true. I call upon his Majesty 
the king of Prussia and Madame la duchesse 
d'Angouleme to witness to the truth of the above 
statements. In order to confute the lies and 
calumnies which then appeared concerning my- 
self in the different newspapers of the day, I sent 
M. Laprade, one of my lawyers, to the president 
of his Majesty the king of Prussia's ministers. 
He was informed that his Majesty had every 
reason to believe that I was a disreputable and 
wicked person. In order to harm me, some 
Machiavellian politician had evidently collected a 
mass of lies which, however, my enemies never 
dared to produce in the open court. Thanks to 
these shady intrigues and wicked falsehoods, certain 
powerful persons enjoying much credit with their 
sovereign managed to deceive the monarch, who was 
never able to discover the identity of the authors of 
these scandalous reports and calumnious falsehoods. 
No matter in what country I uttered my all-too- 
well-founded complaints, I met with persecution 
and an obstinate refusal to do justice to me. Hunted 
from place to place, I still believed that my father- 
land would consent to shelter me. As soon as I 
possessed a bed on which I could lay my head 
beneath the beautiful sky of France, I placed myself 
under the protection of the law. I only asked for 
my heritage, for my lawful birthright, my father- 
land, and a tomb in the land of my fathers. Those 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 245 

in authority who knew, better than any one else, 
who I was, fearful lest I should take legal proceed- 
ings to prove the truth, arrested me without any 
cause, imprisoned me, and then banished me from 
France. These same persons obstinately and cruelly 
declared that I was a Prussian. I challenged them 
to prove their assertions ; they took good care 
not to give themselves away, for they knew that 
nothing can withstand all-powerful truth. In 
short, their perfidy was indefatigable. If they 
really thought me an impostor, they would have 
allowed me to unmask myself in court. Have I 
left aught undone which might have convinced 
any honest and unprejudiced onlooker .? My voice 
was drowned, my person was travestied in a 
thousand ways by unscrupulous opponents. I was 
driven from the sanctuary of justice which should 
belong to rich and poor alike. Yet, with what 
impudence do they not still repeat the same old 
lies and the same ridiculous stories ? It is in vain 
that, in their hatred for the last surviving son of 
the royal house of France, they transgress the laws 
of my fatherland and forswear common-sense. The 
trouble which certain people have taken to deceive 
the nation will produce fatal results for the guilty 
instigators. Fate is fickle, and already the ministers 
of Louis-Philippe who tried to annihilate me have 
forfeited the confidence of their master and of 
his family. The nation, in a moment of blind 
enthusiasm, hastened to proclaim the hero's arrival; 



246 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the history of the future, however, will assign to 
each actor his proper place ; and those who 
thought themselves of such importance will become 
a disgrace to their century. As for me, I may die 
a victim to truth ; it matters not. I fear neither 
death nor the malice of my fellow-creatures. 
Prince, I and my fellow-citizens have been 
deceived. Heavenly justice will not slumber for 
ever ; and, sooner or later. Providence will cause 
truth to triumph here below. And here I pause. 
I have still many things to relate, many things to 
say ; but the hour has not come ; honour and 
honesty are only prized in a country where truth 
is not the general laughing-stock, and where just 
and equitable laws, uncontaminated by political 
intrigues, are obeyed and respected ; I am still 
looking for that country. Many persons in my 
dear fatherland have turned against me; by making 
thoughtless accusations and using immoderate lan- 
guage in speaking of me, they have much increased 
my sorrows. Madame la duchesse d'Angouleme's 
filial devotion to her parents' memory is the only 
argument which they have been able to find in 
order to contradict the narrative, alas ! all too true, 
of forty-six years of suffering. My sister has been 
deceived ; they have kept the truth from her, and 
still they boast that they are her friends and the 
friends of my exiled relations — and yet, if they are 
Madame la Dauphine's real friends, they ought to 
desire to see her reconciled with her brother! And 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 247 

this daughter of royalty, whose misfortunes have 
been respected by no one, has caused me many a 
bitter and painful moment, owing to her choosing 
to believe in the falsehoods which wretched 
mercenaries, bribed by my adversaries, vomited 
forth against me. Do not mistake my meaning : 
these are my last words to my compatriots. My 
calumniators have ever been the secret enemies of 
Charles X, and the tools of a party which, hostile 
to the Bourbons, wishes to annihilate royalty. 
Louis-Philippe himself has been duped by his 
pretended partisans, and used by them to compass 
their own ends. He was the plaything of the 
party which is now endeavouring to undermine 
the work of those three memorable days, and 
which is striving to abolish monarchical authority. 
I am ready to prove before all the sovereigns of 
Europe, and to proclaim to the whole world, the 
above assertions. And, in concluding, I repeat : 
Whoever spreads evil reports concerning myself is 
a knave. Whoever believes these reports, without 
demanding proofs, is weak-minded and utterly 
devoid of any common-sense. As for me, I 
forgive all my political enemies ; the greater 
number have foolishly allowed themselves to be 
prejudiced against me. I pity my fatherland. I 
place all my hope, I find my only consolation, in 
the bosom of Providence, who alone can save 
France. If my death is necessary to prove the 
truth, I submit, crying : " God's will be done ! " 



248 THE KING WHO NEVEK REIGNED 

I have lost many friends who were faithful unto 
death; they were taken from me. My persecutors 
used both dagger and poison in order to get rid of 
them. What would be my fate were it not for 
protection from on high .? 

When God wished to save Jerusalem, He sent 
His prophets, who were cruelly massacred. And 
yet God, in His mercy, sent His only Son on earth. 
Then the Pharisees, the princes of the priests, and 
the people's masters, cried that the faith was in 
danger and, by their insidious plots, caused the Son 
of God to be crucified. Who, then, among the 
sons of man can hope to escape God's impenetrable 
decrees ? ^ 

Charles-Louis, 

Due de Normandie. 

1 The story of NaundorfF's life from 1789 until 1810 is, even 
according to his friends, utterly ridiculous and improbable. They 
saw that such a story as this meant ruin to the cause of NaundorfF. 
These persons, including M. E. A. Naville, have, quite recently, 
tried to fill, at least partially, the gaps in the history of NaundorfF's 
adventures. Having discovered the existence of an old maiden 
lady w^ho still had a dim recollection of certain stories which had 
been told to her by relations or friends, M. Naville thought that, 
with the help of this strange evidence, he could prove that the 
Dauphin, after his escape from the Temple, had taken shelter in 
Switzerland. 

If, however, we examine Mile. Leschot's evidence, as retailed 
by M. Naville, we arrive at quite a difFerent conclusion. 

There lived in Geneva a certain clockmaker named Jean- 
Frdderic Leschot, who, having made some automatons, came to 
exhibit them in Paris and at the French court. Leschot was 
authorized by Marie-Antoinette to embrace the due de Nor- 



THE MEMOIRS OF NAUNDORFF 249 

mandie, who no doubt had much enjoyed the performance. 
During his sojourn in Paris, Leschot became acquainted with 
Charlotte Robespierre ; // is said that a number of her letters were 
found among Leschot's papers, which have since been lost. How 
was it that Leschot, who was then residing in Paris, came to know 
Mile, de Robespierre, who, at that date, 1788, lived in Arras? 
How is it that Leschot's name is never mentioned in the memoirs 
of the Incorruptible's sister ? Mystery ! 

During the Revolution Leschot, under the assumed name of 
Lebas, helped many emigres to escape into Switzerland. One day, 
in the year 1797, an old man dressed like a beggar and accom- 
panied by a child, came to Leschot's house, passed the night there, 
and went away the next morning without having told his name to 
his host. Leschot is said to have remarked a likeness to the 
Dauphin in this child ; however, the old man did not confide in 
him. Leschot led his two guests to the canton Valais, where he 
lost sight of them. He declared that this child who, according to 
him, was no other than the Dauphin, was hidden in the house of 
his father-in-law. Dr. Himly, of Neuveville. Why ? M. Naville 
supposes that he was sent there because one of the doctor's 
nephews, formerly an officer in a Swiss regiment, had recom- 
mended this little town as a safe hiding-place. The doctor died 
about the year 1800, and his nephew, the pasteur Himly, sheltered 
the child, who was now a young man and who, we are told, was 
one day arrested by the police and then disappeared. All this is 
very improbable and uncertain. The continuation is still more so. 
Leschot's son, Frederic, who during his visits to his grandfather 
had become very friendly with the stranger, was quite devoted to 
him. Some one must have told him that this unknown young 
man was the Dauphin. This was a strange disclosure to make to 
a child of nine years of age, who was told not to reveal it to his 
parents. On a certain date, which perhaps corresponds with the 
date on which the young stranger was arrested, Fr6d6ric's be- 
haviour seems to be rather uncertain ; he frequently disappeared, 
was absent for several months or even years, and then suddenly 
returned home only to disappear again. After hearing Mile. 
Leschot's version of the story, M. Naville tried to ascertain the 
dates of these disappearances and endeavoured to connect them 
with different incidents in the life of Naundorff, who, as we have 



250 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

already guessed, was the unknown child, the fugitive Dauphin, 
who took shelter one night under Leschot's roof. M, Naville 
accounts for Fr^ddric's frequent disappearances by the fact that he 
went to help his friend and to rescue the august person of the 
Dauphin of France from the dungeons and clutches of his 
redoubtable enemies. Frdd^ric's relations, however, declare that 
he was a disgrace to his family, and that from the day when he 
first met Naundorff, he lived the life of an adventurer, was 
frequently arrested and condemned for divers offences. And it 
was only owing to his family, who were universally esteemed and 
respected, that he was able to get out of these innumerable scrapes. 
And so these same relations, by their intervention in his favour, 
became acquainted with magistrates and lawyers who never for 
one moment guessed that this young fellow was a hero. The 
whole story is quite improbable. 

M. Naville's researches show us one thing, and that is, if 
Naundorff and Frederic Leschot were really friends, they probably 
enlisted in the army raised by the patriot Schill, and were mixed 
up in his endeavours to rouse Germany against Napoleon ; but 
this fact would also show that there was no connection between 
Naundorff and the unknown child who was supposed to have been 
hidden in Dr. Himly's house. Probably, at that time, the idea 
had not occurred to Naundorff that he might write an imaginary 
history of himself and reap material benefit therefrom. 



EPILOGUE 

Naundorff arrived in Paris, May 26, 1833, 
from Crosen, a little town in Prussia situated on 
the frontiers of Silesia, after a journey which, owing 
to his meagre resources, must have been extremely 
fatiguing. He was residing in the house of Madame 
Rambaud, No. 18, rue Richer, when he decided, on 
June 13, 1836, to summon Madame la duchesse 
d'Angouleme to appear in court in order that she 
might recognize him in public as her brother and 
"share with him the fortune left by their parents." 
Her reply was brief and to the point ; he was 
arrested a fortnight later, and his papers, to the 
number of two hundred, were seized. Notwith- 
standing the efforts of his lawyers, Gruau de la 
Barre and Cremieux, he was banished from France 
after spending twenty-six days in prison. He took 
refuge in London, where he declared that some 
one offered him a large sum of money if he would 
consent to go to Switzerland and to keep quiet 
there. About this time he was afflicted with 
religious mania, and founded a church according 
to the Swedenborg faith — whereupon many of his 

partisans deserted him. 

251 



252 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

He declared that some one tried to assassinate 
him on the night of November i6, 1838 ; an un- 
known person fired twice at him while he was 
walking in the garden attached to his house at 
No. 21, Clarence Place; however, he was only 
slightly wounded. 

NaundorfF now interested himself in mechanical 
inventions. In 1845 he went to Holland upon 
business connected with the sale of certain bullets 
which he had invented ; the Dutch Government 
authorized him, after some demur, to reside in 
Delft. This was the last stage in NaundorfF's 
troubled existence. During a journey to the Hague 
he was attacked by violent colic, followed by intense 
fever, which left him in such a weak condition 
that he could scarcely get back to Delft. He sent 
in great haste for his faithful friend Gruau de la 
Barre, and begged him to go to England and to 
fetch his wife and daughter, who were still there. 
The latter reached Delft August 8. Naundorff 
died two days after their arrival, August 10, 1845. 
During his last moments he had scarcely been able 
to recognize his family. This sudden demise 
greatly surprised his partisans, for NaundorfF was 
in robust health at the time of his departure for the 
Hague. Jules Favre tells us that several of the 
naundorflstes declared that he had been poisoned. 
The Dutch Government gave NaundorfF the 
inventor a. splendid funeral. Soldiers carried his 
coffin to its last resting-place ; delegates representing 



EPILOGUE 253 

both army and navy followed the hearse. M. van 
Buren, the lawyer who had been instrumental 
in obtaining permission for him to reside in 
Holland, spoke a few words of farewell by the 
graveside. 



APPENDIX 

OTHER FALSE DAUPHINS 

The number of impostors, mostly in a low walk 
of life, who managed to get people to believe that 
they were the son of Louis XVI is quite bewilder- 
ing : Hergavault, Fruchard, Marassin, Mathurin 
Bruneau, Dufresne, Persat, Auguste Meves, Fonto- 
live, not including Richemont and Naundorff. 
During fifty years these lunatics and swindlers 
endeavoured to impose upon the all too credulous 
public. M. de La Sicotiere, in his splendid work 
upon the false Louis XVII, declares that all these 
false Dauphins founded their claims upon certain 
information contained in a romance entitled : Le 
Cimetiere de la Madeleine^ which was published in 
1800 by Regnault-Warin. This work consists of a 
number of nocturnal dialogues between the abbe 
Edgeworth, who assisted Louis XVI on the 
scaffold, and the author. Among other things we 
learn from these conversations that Desault, the 
surgeon-in-chief at the Grand Hospice de PHumanite, 
was said to have received an anonymous letter 
containing 500 louts in gold, and assuring him 
that his fortune would be made if he would 

254 



APPENDIX 255 

promise not to place any obstacles in the way of 
the young prince's escape. Desault, like a good 
patriot, was said to have carried the missive to the 
Comite de Salut public. But one of Desault's 
pupils, who usually accompanied him on his visits, 
and who was a royalist in disguise, after his master's 
death managed, together with an accomplice, to 
gain admittance to the Temple, where he put the 
Dauphin to sleep by administering a dose of opium, 
concealed him inside a cardboard hobby-horse in- 
tended as a plaything for the little prisoner, and 
placed both in a large wicker hamper. A dumb 
orphan child, a sufferer from rickets, was left in his 
place. The conspirators then escaped in a cart or 
carriage, which was waiting for them outside the 
gate of the Temple. The Dauphin awoke to find 
himself disguised as a girl. They eventually 
arrived safely, after a narrow escape from some 
gendarmes^ at Charette's head-quarters at Fontenoi. 
They received an enthusiastic reception ; salutes 
were fired. On the morrow the new sovereign 
was solemnly presented to his adherents in the 
church of Fontenoi. An emissary arrived soon 
after from the Convention with instructions to make 
overtures of peace to Charette, by which the 
Dauphin was to be sent back to Paris and re- 
imprisoned for a time in the Temple. Charette 
immediately caused the boy to be hidden on a 
little island situated a few leagues distant from the 
mouth of the Loire; he afterwards decided to send 



256 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

him to America that he might be out of harm's 
way. But the ship which bore Louis XVII was 
captured by a repubhcan frigate, and the unhappy 
youth died raving mad in his new prison. This is 
a brief resume of the work which, soon after its 
first appearance, fell into the hands of Jean-Marie 
Hervagault, at that time imprisoned in Vire. This 
young man was the son of a poor tailor at Saint-L6, 
who, at the age of fourteen, deserted his father's 
shop in order to travel and see the world. His 
pleasing exterior had much to do with his success, 
and he was able to make many dupes by giving 
himself out first as Montmorency, then as Monaco, 
Ursel, Longueville, etc., until he was arrested as a 
returned emigre or an agent of the Chouans and 
thrown into prison. The Cimetiere de la Madeleine 
was like a revelation to him. He determined 
to go and seek new dupes in Champagne, where 
he had already met with much success in 1798. 
At Chalons and at Vitry he gathered round him 
quite a little court of servitors and faithful fol- 
lowers : M. de Bournonville, formerly one of the 
king's lifeguards, Madame Saignes, the notary 
Adnet of Vitry, the bishop of Viviers, and Lafont 
de Savines, a former constitutionnel, who called him 
his "little Messiah." To all these persons he 
related a story copied from Regnault-Warin's 
romance : the child who died in the Temple was 
the son of the tailor Hervagault, who, for the sum 
of 200,000 livres,\\di6. confided his child to Charette's 



APPENDIX 257 

agents. Hervagault declared that Charette had 
sent the child to England, where he was said to 
have been recognized as the son of Louis XVI by 
the due de Bouillon, by several well-known royalist 
leaders, and even by the king of England. However, 
the comte d'Artois disowned all connection with 
him. Hervagault then said that so many attempts 
were made to poison him that he was forced to 
take shelter in Rome, where he was unable to stay 
as the pope feared for his own safety. The latter, 
before Hervagault's departure, made certain marks 
with a red-hot iron upon the fugitive's right leg 
and left arm. This deed was recorded in a state- 
ment signed by twenty cardinals and deposited at 
the Vatican. The pseudo-Louis XVII first went 
to Spain, where he was kindly received by the 
duchesse d'Orleans, and then to Portugal. Pichegru 
having called him back to the French coast, he 
said that he reached Paris, after several other 
adventures, about the i8th fructidor. He was ar- 
rested in Vitry, February 17, 1 802, as a swindler and 
a vagabond. His followers attended in court, but 
many of them refused to believe that he was guilty. 
He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. 
Having been set at liberty, he tried to recommence 
his old tricks, but the imperial police had their 
eye upon him ; the false Louis XVII was arrested 
once more and sent to Bicetre, where he died in 
1812, declaring to the last, says M. de La Sicotiere, 
that he was the son of Louis XVI. 
'7 



258 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

The other false Dauphins were not so clever as 
Hervagault. Mile. Le Normand [Memoires his- 
toriques sur rimperatrice "Josephine) relates that a 
young drummer in Belgiojoso's regiment managed 
to interest a number of his officers and several noble 
ladies in Turin, by giving out that he was Louis 
XVII (1800). But he was finally obliged to confess 
that he was only the son of a clockmaker in Paris. 
About the same time the police arrested an 
individual who, in order to prove his right to the 
title of Louis XVII, showed a mark on his right 
thigh representing several jieurs de lis surmounted 
by a crown and the initials of the House of Bourbon. 

A letter from the due de Feltre, dated from 
Ghent, April 4, 18 15, announced, without how- 
ever giving any details, the existence of a certain 
man named Fruchard, who called himself Louis 
XVII, and who seems to have been a royalist agent 
during the Cent yours. 

Even NaundorfF himself helped to fabricate false 
Dauphins : he is said to have picked up an officer 
of the Grande Armee^ Marassin by name, who was 
returning from Russia in a wretched condition, 
and after having given him very minute instructions 
concerning his conduct, he sent him to France in 
1 8 16 to see what sort of a reception he himself 
might expect there. Now it happened that 
Marassin played the part of Louis XVII so well 
and made so many dupes that he was arrested and 
imprisoned in Rouen. 



APPENDIX 259 

Mathurin Bruneau, the son of a maker of 
wooden shoes in Vezins, near Cholet, was also 
inspired by Regnault-Warin's romance. Bruneau, 
who, Hke Hervagault, seems to have been more or 
less a maniac, began his career as an impostor at a 
very early age. He passed for some time as the 
baron de Vezins. This fraud having been detected, 
he returned to his native village, which, however, he 
soon left again. For some time he was an inmate 
of the workhouse at Saint-Denis, and then he 
enlisted in the marines. He deserted soon after- 
wards and went to the United States, where, for 
ten years, he managed to gain a living by occupying 
divers humble posts. He landed in 1816 at Saint- 
Malo, having in his possession a passport bearing 
the name of Charles de Navarre. His story, 
however, was received with derision. He was 
sent to Bicetre, and then to Rouen, for having 
defrauded certain persons of the sum of six hundred 
francs by declaring himself to be related to the 
Phelypeaux family. It was while he was in prison 
in Rouen that he read Regnault-Warin's romance, 
which, on being released, he hastened to imitate. 
With the help of three accomplished thieves, whose 
tool he seems to have been, he succeeded in making 
several dupes abroad ; he gathered quite a little circle 
of fanatics and charitable persons round him, and 
even caused seditious proclamations to be printed. 

Having been condemned, on February 19, 
1818, to five years' imprisonment for swindling 



260 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

and assuming a false name, force had to be used to 
prevent his faithful partisans from rescuing him from 
Mont Saint-Michel, where he was incarcerated. 
He died in 1825 in a state of imbecility. Certain 
persons persisted in declaring that they had seen 
him in Cayenne in 1844. 

In 18 18 a madman named Jean-Fran9ois 
Dufresne, a nephew of a statesman, was arrested 
outside the Tuileries. He asked to be allowed to 
see the king, declaring that he was Louis XVII, 
and that he bore certain characteristic marks on 
his body. Two years later a bailiff from Uzes, 
also a lunatic, declared that he had been sent 
from heaven that the king might acknowledge 
him as the son of Louis XVI. 

We learn from an article upon Naundorff, which 
appeared in the Supercheries litteraires, from which 
we quote the following details, that America also 
contributed a specimen to this collection of false 
Dauphins. In 1824 an old soldier, Victor Persat, 
who had gone mad in consequence of a wound in 
his head, published several proclamations in the 
newspapers of that time : he declared that an 
organ-grinder had helped him to escape from the 
Temple during the month of February 1793, by 
hiding him inside his organ ; another child was 
substituted in his place. A peddler then took him 
to a castle close to Riom, where he was brought up 
under the name of Persat. But the secret of his 
birth having been revealed to him while he was 



APPENDIX 261 

in America, where he had gone to reside after the 
Russian campaign, he received a kind welcome 
from the Congress at Washington. On his arrival 
in France the police immediately seized him and 
shut him up in Bicetre. 

Another false Dauphin, Auguste Meves, is 
better known in England than in France. M. de 
La Sicotiere says that he was a sort of jack-of-all- 
trades, given to scribbling, daubing inferior pictures, 
and composing second-rate music. This man could 
only produce one proof to support his claims : he 
used to show the marks of an old wound, which he 
declared had been caused by Hebert, who, one day, 
had flung him against a door. He could not say 
how he had managed to escape from the Temple. 
Having been taken to England, he declared 
that the Meves family had educated him in 
accordance with a promise made by his foster- 
mother to the queen, whose housekeeper she had 
once been. In order to make his story more 
probable, he mentioned the names of the marquis 
de Bonneval, the abbe Charles de Broglie, and 
several other actors in the affair of the queen's 
necklace. His memoirs were published after his 
death by his children (1868). We learn from the 
memoirs of M. Gisquet, prefect of the police, of 
the existence of another unhappy maniac, named 
Fontaleve, who was condemned at Pontarlier in 
October 1831 for having declared that he was of 
royal descent. 



262 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

The fall of the Bourbons gave a new impetus 
to the false Dauphins ; we find that the persons 
who now assumed this role were remarkably in- 
telligent, well provided with proofs and documents, 
and protected by powerful individuals who were 
persuaded to side with them either for hatred of 
the younger branch of the Bourbons or for sake 
of greed : several of these individuals founded 
dynasties which are still in existence. 

It was in July 1831 that Richemont published 
his first work : Memoir es du due de Normandie^Jils 
de Louis XVI, ecrits et publies par son ordre. The 
identity of this person is somewhat difficult to 
establish ; he was known by more than eleven 
different names. M. de La Sicotiere thinks that 
his real name was Henri-Ethelbert-Louis- Victor 
Hebert. He was imprisoned in 182 1 in Milan, at 
the same time as Silvio Pellico. He was liberated 
about the year 1824, when he went to Toulon, 
where he was employed for some time at the 
town-hall ; it was said that he was mixed up in 
certain suspicious and rather shady speculations. 
According to M. Nauroy (hes Secrets des Bourbons), 
he addressed several petitions in his own hand- 
writing to the two chambers in 1828, in which he 
called himself the son of Louis XVI. He began 
again after the Revolution of July, and, according 
to La Sicotiere, from that time until his arrest in 
1833, he was mixed up with all kinds of political 
intrigues, including royalist, republican and even 



APPENDIX 263 

Bonapartist plots. He was a drunken and dissolute 
fellow. 

About this time he had several well-known 
men among his supporters : M. de Bremond, the 
former servitor of Louis XVI, who defended him 
in the court of assizes ; the cure of la Croix-Rousse, 
Lyons ; Mother Alphonse, of the convent at 
Pontarlier, and even a former preceptor to the due 
de Bordeaux, the abbe Tharin. From 1831 until 
1833 Richemont published or caused to be pub- 
lished a number of pamphlets ; among the most 
important of these documents we find La Revela- 
tion sur r existence de Louis XVII^ published by M. 
Labreli de Fontaine, who declared that he was 
librarian to the duchesse d'Orleans (1831 to 1832); 
this pamphlet was accredited to a certain extent by 
Louis Blanc and Jules Favre ; we also find a reprint 
of Thomas de Gallardon's Propheties and the 
Souvenirs of a certain Morin de la Gueriviere. 
Richemont's love of sensational stories finally wore 
out the patience of the Government ; his apartment 
was searched by the police, who found a uniform 
and a sword, a plumed hat, some seals dating from 
Malet's conspiracy, and several compromising 
documents. He was arrested in August 1833 ; 
during his trial, which lasted from October 30 
until November 5, 1834, he was accused of con- 
spiring against the king's life and the safety of the 
State, of possessing prohibited arms, etc. He 
could say but little in his defence. He began by 



264 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

disclaiming his own memoirs ; he then declared, 
without, however, giving any proofs, that he had 
been abducted from the Temple in January 1794. 
No one could believe his word. He was con- 
demned to twelve years' imprisonment. Two 
striking incidents occurred during his trial : first 
the keeper Lasne appeared and solemnly swore 
that the Dauphin had died in his arms in the 
Temple ; then a white-haired individual, dressed 
in black, carrying a large envelope adorned with 
the arms of France, appeared, and declared that his 
name was Morel de Saint-Didier and that he came 
to " protest in the name of NaundorfF." 

Richemont escaped after a few years' incarce- 
ration at Sainte-Pelagie and then lived in hiding. 
His partisans, from time to time, bombarded the 
naundorjistes with polemical pamphlets. At last, in 
1850, Richemont published, under the name of 
M. L. Esp. J. J. Claveri del Curso, a new and 
enlarged edition of his memoirs, entitled: La Vie de 
Monseigneur le due de Normandie^Jils de Louis XVI 
et de Marie- Antoinette. . . . Before reviewing this 
romance, which is full of improbable and ludicrous 
incidents, we will follow Richemont to the end of 
his career. He went back to France after the 
amnesty of 1840 ; the Revolution of 1848 threw 
him into the shade, and when, in 1850, he pub- 
lished the story of his life, no notice was taken of 
his revelations. A new statement of the case : 
La Restauration convaincue d'hypocrisie^ published by 



APPENDIX 265 

M. de Savigny in 1851, also passed unnoticed. 
Richemont died of apoplexy on August 10, 1853, 
in the chateau of Gleize (near Villefranche), belong- 
ing to the comtesse dApchier, widow of one of 
Louis XVI's pages. It was said that the imperial 
Government, after his demise, placed seals on all 
his private papers. 

One of M. de La Sicotiere's friends relates in the 
following terms a visit paid by him to Richemont 
in 1 85 1. "This personage resided in the rue de 
Fleurus. The house was rather shabby-looking. 
His wretched apartment consisted of a small bed- 
room and a kind of sitting-room, the walls of which 
were adorned with a red wall-paper ; a sofa and a 
few rickety arm-chairs completed the furniture. 
The royal host, who was attired in a flowered 
dressing-gown, was fat and lame ; his nose was 
covered with pimples, his face was bloated and 
coarse, and his voice was rough ; in short, he 
was altogether a very vulgar-looking individual. 
And yet people declared that he was a typical 
Bourbon. I myself could not see the resemblance. 
I was told that he led a very dissolute life, and that 
he was a fervent worshipper at the shrine of 
Bacchus. He seems to have been very badly off for 
funds, especially towards the end of his life. . . ." 
And now let us hear Richemont's version, which is 
an exact reproduction of Regnault-Warin's romance 
(Cimetiere de la Madeleine), He escaped from the 
Temple in a basket of dirty linen on January 1 9, 



266 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

1794, the day on which Simon gave up his post as 
gaoler. A dumb child, who was sick and ailing, 
was concealed in a wooden hobby-horse and left 
in his place. Ojardias, who, together with the 
Simons, managed the transaction, gave the Dauphin, 
in Josephine's presence, into the charge of Frotte, 
then in hiding in Paris. They left Paris that very 
day and went to le Bocage, where Louis XVII was 
acknowledged by the Vendeens at Beaupreau. In 
June 1795 the comte de Frotte gave the Dauphin 
into the charge of the prince de Conde. And now 
Richemont's story becomes altogether fictitious. 
Conde, after having announced the arrival of the 
son of Louis XVI to the sovereigns of Europe 
then in coalition against France, proclaimed 
Louis XVIII king on account of the youth of the 
lawful heir ; he then confided the child to the care 
of Kleber, who was to undertake his moral and 
military education. We next find our hero as an 
aide-de-camp (at eighteen years of age ! ) at Marengo, 
where he was wounded while fighting by the side 
of Desaix, who, on his deathbed, gave him a letter 
of introduction to Fouche. 

From 1 80 1 until 1804 he travelled in France 
and Italy, where he escaped from all danger, thanks 
to the protection of Fouche and the Virgin Mary. 
He then went to the United States and Brazil. He 
returned to France for the events of 1 8 14 and 1 8 1 5, 
a secret article contained in the treaties having 
insured his rights. Fouche took him to see the 



APPENDIX 267 

dowager duchesse d'Orleans and the prince de 
Conde, both of whom gave him an enthusiastic 
reception. However, as Louis XVIII would not 
give up the throne to its rightful owner, the 
Dauphin withdrew in order not to expose his 
fatherland to the perils of another civil war. 

Nevertheless, before leaving France he obtained 
an interview with the duchesse d'Angouleme, who 
refused to have anything to do with him in con- 
sequence of the accusations made by him against his 
mother in the presence of Hebert and Chaumette. 
He gave to Fualdes, the virtuous Fualdes, certain 
private papers which the Government did not 
scruple to seize. He then travelled in Asia Minor 
until 1818, when he went back to Italy. There 
he was arrested at the request of the French 
Government and thrown into the prison of Milan, 
where we find him in the beginning of this, our 
short resume. The Revolution of July was a direct 
and just punishment for the crimes of the Bourbons. 
The old due de Bourbon, who obstinately continued 
to support the claims of the son of Louis XVI, was 
strangled by order of Louis-Philippe, who then 
offered to buy Richemont's silence by giving him 
his daughter Clementine in marriage (!) In 1848 
he foretold the end of the monarchy of July ; the 
provisional Government refused to listen to him. 
The pope, who was now his only protector, gave 
him a private audience at Gaeta, and confided some 
important secrets to him. Richemont's miserable 



268 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

death in 1853 was a worthy epilogue to this sordid 
romance. Our sole object in relating it is to show 
that, even if the Dauphin's escape was probable, 
those who tried to usurp his name were utterly i 
unworthy of notice and of a place in history. 

Marie-Antoinette's Last Letter to 
Madame Elisabeth 

October 16, 1793 

I learnt, during my trial, that my daughter was 
separated from you. Alas ! pooi; child. I dare 
not write to her ; she would not be allowed to see 
my letter. I do not even know if this will reach 
you. Give them both my blessing. I hope, some 
day, when they are older, that they will be reunited 
to you, and that they will be able to enjoy your 
affectionate solicitude. Let them both remember 
what I always tried to teach them — that our duty 
and our principles are all-important in this life ; 
that fraternal affection and mutual trust can alone 
make them happy. May my daughter realize that 
she is older and more experienced than her brother, 
and may she give him all the good advice which 
her affection for him can prompt her to give; may 
my son, in his turn, show to his sister all the care 
and attention which his affection for her can suggest 
to him. In short, may they both realize that, no 
matter in what station of life they may find them- 
selves, they can only hope to be really happy by 




e^-iLJ^LatA 



APPENDIX 269 

their union. May they take example from us, and 
remember how, in the midst of our misfortunes, 
our mutual affection consoled us. Happiness is 
doubled if we can share it with a friend ; and where 
can we find dearer, truer friends than in our own 
family ? May my son never forget his father's last 
words, which I now repeat once more : Let him 
never try to revenge our death. 

Louis louis 

(Signature of Louis XVI). (Signature of the young Dauphin). 

Copy of a Letter addressed by NaundorfF to the 
Duchesse d'Angouleme. 

My Last Letter to my Sister 

You have read, Madame, the last wishes of our 
good mother, written by her own hand just before 
her death. " She must help her brother ; union 
alone can give them happiness." These words will 
remind you of what she had already said to you 
during a scene which took place in the chief tower 
of the Temple. And it is because these words are 
so absolutely true that our enemies, by spreading 
infamous calumnies, have done everything which 
lay in their power to keep you from me ; they have 
deceived your sisterly affection by giving my name 
to several of those wretches whom they hold in 
reserve, and, by fraudulently extracting our secrets, 
they parody all my endeavours to make myself 
known to you. God, Madame, has given you eyes 



270 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

that you may see, and ears that you may hear. In 
the presence of our beloved mother, before the 
judgment-seat of the Sovereign Judge, you will 
have to explain why you would neither see with 
your own eyes he who has already given you so 
many proofs of his identity, nor hear with your 
own ears the reply to all questions put by you to 

your own brother. 

Charles-Louis, 

Due de Normandie. 
London^ October 14, 1836. 



PART III 

NEW LIGHT UPON THE FATE OF LOUIS XVII 

THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 
Solution of the Problem, by Joseph Turquan 



PREFACE 

In choosing the title, " New Light upon the 
Fate of Louis XVII," I do not pretend to produce 
any new documents to solve a mystery about which 
no documents now exist. I only wish to offer a 
new and a very simple solution of the problem, and 
to support my theory I shall produce proofs and 
" qua si-proofs.^'' 

By comparing well-known, or rather manifest, 
facts which hitherto no one has thought of com- 
paring, we shall discover the truth ; and in this we 
shall be aided by two documents which, if we read 
and compare, will convince the whole world of the 
truth of our statements. 

In the following pages I shall endeavour to 
prove : 

Firstly : That the unfortunate son of Louis 
XVI and Marie-Antoinette was assassinated in the 
Temple on January 19, 1794, between eight and 
nine o'clock at night. 

Secondly : That he was secretly and hastily 
buried, perhaps before life was extinct, in the moat 
of the Temple. Thanks to the evidence of an eye- 
witness, whose veracity no one can possibly doubt 
18 273 



274 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

— in which evidence he declared that the child's 
skeleton had been accidentally discovered — we have 
been able to ascertain the exact spot in the moat 
where he was buried. 

Thirdly : That a child of the same age, in 
feeble health, suffering from an incurable disease, 
whose days were already numbered, was imme- 
diately substituted in his place ; so that when the 
death of this sick child was legally and officially 
announced, the outside world might think that the 
Dauphin had died a natural death. 

Fourthly : That the duchesse d'Angouleme 
knew everything, but not until some time after 
her return to France. And this would account 
for the strange inconsistency noticeable in her deeds 
and words concerning her unfortunate brother. 

Such is my solution of this keenly-interesting 
problem, about which everything has been said and 
written — everything except the truth. 

Joseph Turquan. 

July 1907. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 

A MAN whose sincerity was above all suspicion, 
who never told a lie, who was the soul of honour 
and loyalty, the general, comte d'Andigne, father 
of the marquis dAndigne, also a general in the 
French army, wounded at the battle of Sedan, for 
many years senator for Maine-et-Loire, and grand- 
father of the present conseiller-municipal for the city 
of Paris, was, in 1801, imprisoned in the Temple 
for a political offence. This gentleman wrote 
some excellent memoirs, which were published by 
that learned scholar, M. Edmond Bire. In the 
account of his imprisonment in the Temple we 
read : 

" Several prisoners, in order to occupy them- 
selves and to beautify their prison, determined to 
make little gardens of the heaps of earth which 
had been thrown from the moat into our quarters. 
M. Fauconnier, the concierge of the Temple, ap- 
proved our project. We then divided the ground 
into plots and set to work. The soil thus placed 
at our disposal was very poor in quality. In order 
to enrich it, we dug up the turf in the courtyard 
wherever we could find any. One of the prisoners 
thought he saw some richer soil lying at the 

275 



276 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

bottom of the moat ; while he was digging it up, 
he was somewhat surprised to perceive the body 
of a child of considerable size, which had evidently 
been interred in quicklime. 

" An isolated body, buried in such a spot and 
with such extraordinary precautions, made us think 
that we had discovered the remains of Monseigneur 
le Dauphin, Louis XVII, who died in the tower of 
the Temple. The flesh had been entirely destroyed; 
the skeleton alone remained. One of our number 
broke ofF a little bone, which he wished to keep 
as a relic. The body was re-interred with great 
respect, and in future we refrained from disturbing 
it. M. Fauconnier happened to be standing near 
when I went to look at the skeleton. I asked him : 

" ' Sir, that must be the body of Monseigneur 
le Dauphin ? ' 

" My question seemed to embarrass him, but 
he replied without hesitating : 

" ' Yes, sir.' 

"This was in the month of June i8oi."-^ 

1 General d'Andigne, M^moires, vol. ii, p. 46-47, Plon, 
Paris, These memoirs had been shown to M. de Beauchesne 
forty years before their publication. M. de Beauchesne, in his 
great and splendid work on Louis XFIIy quoted exactly the same 
passages which we ourselves here quote. M. Charles Nauroy in 
his Secrets des Bourbons borrowed some of his sentences from this 
same book. It is strange that neither of these two authors, nor 
any other writers since them, have attached more importance to 
such a weighty declaration. Not one of these authors has deigned 
to do more than touch lightly upon this fact. And yet the 
knowledge of this point leads us to the solution of the problem. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 277 

The supposition that this was indeed the skele- 
ton of the son of Louis XVI perhaps resulted 
more from its accidental discovery in that particular 
spot than from the affirmative reply made by the 
concierge of the Temple. The latter's assertion, 
however, is not to be despised. Such a formal 
declaration is of the greatest importance. If Fau- 
connier was not an eye-witness of the drama or 
of the interment of the little body — for M. de 
Beauchesne tells us that Fauconnier did not enter 
the Temple until May 4, 1798 — at least he learnt 
many secrets and traditions which were then still 
too fresh in the public mind for the truth to have 
been materially altered. 

Let us also consider the state of public opinion 
at that time : we must remember and take into 
account the fact that a certain number of in- 
dividuals, in those fierce bloody years of civil and 
foreign wars, held that the murder of a child, the 
son of the " tyrant " and the " Austrian woman," 
was a just and natural deed. This crime seemed 
to them, as well as to certain initiated persons, 
mute or subordinate witnesses, much less horrible 
than it seems now-a-days to tender-hearted beings 
or to the sober historian of modern times. Perhaps 
these witnesses gossiped with their friends ; but 
their secrets died with them, and even before them, 
so unimportant did the deed appear to them in 
those revolutionary days. 

But let us return to M. d'Andigne's "evidence" : 



278 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

it is certainly important. The soldier-memorialist 
adds in a footnote : 

" I have often regretted that no one has ever 
verified, by means of an inquiry, the facts which I 
here relate, and which were as well known to my 
comrades as to myself. I mentioned my opinion, 
during the Restauration^ to the cardinal de La Fare, 
archbishop of Sens.-^ He replied that Madame la 
Dauphine was convinced that her unfortunate 
brother did not die in the Temple, and that, by 
making inquiries, w^e should only revive her grief 
without being able to persuade her to believe 
otherwise. Unfortunately, swiftly-passing time 
makes the task of ascertaining the real truth every 
day more difficult." 

And yet it is thanks to this very lapse of time 
that we are enabled to unveil the mystery of the 
Temple, discover the truth, and produce the 
following proofs. For many things are known 
to-day which could not be known in those days. 

Let us now consider M. d'Andigne's testimony, 
or rather " evidence," as we have already called it. 
It contains several little details which do not strike 
us at first sight ; when we examine it, however, 

^ This cardinal de La Fare was an excellent man. He suc- 
ceeded M. de Saint-Priest in Vienna as Louis XVIII's agent under 
the Directoire. It was he who, while bishop of Nancy and when 
preaching before Louis XVI, said (May 4, 1789) : 

" Sire, the nation over which you rule has given many proofs 
of its patience. It is a nation of martyrs, to whom life means 
naught but suffering." 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 279 

many things which seemed obscure, inexplicable 
or improbable become quite clear. 

They must have been obliged to inter the child 
mthout any coffin in the moat of the Temple, because 
they could bury him nowhere else. 

There must have been some reason, and a very 
important one, to conceal this death. 

There must have been an equally important 
reason which made it necessary that all traces of 
the little corpse should disappear as quickly as 
possible. 

It was impossible to declare his death (for 
then, as now, the death-declaration was strictly 
obligatory) ; it was impossible to make any notification. 

Neither was any acte de deces drawn up. 

Therefore it was impossible to send the body 
to any cemetery for interment. 

We must therefore conclude from all these 
facts that the child, whose skeleton had been dis- 
covered by M. d'Andigne's fellow-prisoners, had 
died a violent death. 

So some crime must'have been committed. 

Now there had never been more than one child 
in the Temple — and one only ! — of whom any one 
could wish to get rid in order to suit real or 
imaginary interests.^ 

Who was this child ? 

1 " It is false, absolutely false, that a crime can ever be of use." 
Speech made by Sylvain Bailly, quoted by the comte de Beugnot, 
his fellow-prisoner in the Conciergerie. 



280 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

The Dauphin. 

It would be very strange — so strange that we 
may almost consider the hypothesis as impossible 
— if another child, precisely of the same age as 
this child, precisely in the same part of Paris, 
in a place carefully guarded, into which one 
could only enter by special permission, and under 
the supervision of concierges^ wardens and soldiers 
constantly going and coming in all directions, after 
having been obliged to pass in front of guards 
placed outside each door (these guards were insti- 
tuted even before August 13, 1792) — it would be 
very strange, we repeat, if another child had suc- 
cumbed in the Temple, and its death had been so 
shrouded in mystery that no declaration could be 
made. The child, whose body had been found in 
June 1 80 1, in the moat of the Temple, could only 
have been dead for six or seven years. For the 
skeleton — children's bones are soft, spongeous and 
friable — was intact and well preserved. Though 
the quicklime had destroyed the flesh, it had 
probably helped to preserve the bones. 

But who could have conceived and executed 
such an atrocious crime, which, as Bossuet said, was 
" one of those things which it were better never to 
mention " ? 

Yes, who ? 

We will carefully refrain from recording facts 
which we ourselves have been unable to verify ; 
but we will give a few hints which, if we compare 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 281 

them, will furnish us with the clue to a whole 
chain of facts — not hypotheses, but facts which 
will throw an entirely new light upon the problem, 
and eventually solve it. With the help of this 
rough outline we shall be able to read the names 
of the principal actors in this painful drama. 

M. d'Andigne's words, which we have just 
quoted, would be futile and unconvincing if we 
did not add one important fact to support our 
theory. 

The first clue to the truth is contained in M. 
d'Andigne's statement. 

We shall find the second clue, if we carefully 
examine and criticize the proces-verbal of the post- 
mortem examination drawn up in the Temple by 
the four doctors and surgeons who, on June 8, 1795, 
opened the body of a dead child, who, they were 
informed, was the Dauphin. 

Dr. Cabanes,^ having carefully examined this 
document, tells us that it proves beyond all doubt 
that the poor little victim succumbed to hereditary 
diseases, from which the son of Louis XVI and 
Marie-Antoinette had never suffered, and which he 
could not have contracted during his imprisonment.^ 

^ Dr, Cabanas, Les Marts mystMeuses de Vhhtoire, p. 454-461. 

^ The proch-verbal of the post-mortem, examination preserved 
at the Archives nationales, having been reproduced both in Dr, 
Cabanas' and M. de Beauchesne's works, we will not reprint it 
here. We will only mention the opinion expressed by the medical 
men who assisted at that examination. 



282 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Therefore we can be quite sure that the dead child 
examined by Drs. Dumangin, Pelletan, Lassus and 
Jeanroy was not the Dauphin. 

But, on the other hand, we must not infer from 
this fact that the young prince had been abducted 
alive from the Temple. Abduction is by no means 
the only inference to be drawn from this non- 
identity. 

The Dauphin was not abducted : he was assas- 
sinated — not murdered inch by inch, as has been 
reported, not deprived of the fresh air, food or 
attentions so necessary to a child of his tender years, 
not done to death by ill-treatment. This story 
was invented by the royalist party. Although 
Simon and his wife were both tolerably brutal, 
given to drinking, dull-witted, cowardly and servile, 
they treated the fair, delicate child of royalty as 
they would have treated their own child if they had 
had one ; in short, just as children were and are 
treated now-a-days in workmen's families, perhaps 
somewhat less brutally than people would have us 
believe. Was not even Sanson capable of feeling 
compassion .? In those days people were not so 
foolishly weak, and did not indulge their offspring 
as is the custom to do in these enlightened times ; 
parents were by no means anxious to make tyrants 
of their children ; they themselves were tyrants. 

Simon, like all his comrades, was rather a 
despot. He was also something else, as we shall 
see later on. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 283 

The Dauphin was assassinated because he was 
too young to be dragged before the bloody tribunal 
over which Fouquier-Tinville presided; such had 
already been his mother's fate, and was soon to be 
his aunt's. All violent passions quickly degenerate 
into cruelty when any object stands in their way ! 
In those days of mad fury we find victory as piti- 
less as it had been in the time of the Romans and 
in the history of all savage nations; in those days 
it was so easy to get rid of any embarrassing object 
or person that it would have been strange if some 
unscrupulous individuals had not profited by such 
facilities. Republican fanaticism was struggling 
wildly against royalist fanaticism and the only too 
well-founded fear that the Bourbons would be 
restored to power ; all these facts explain — with- 
out, however, excusing — that thanks to the customs 
and opinions then prevalent, persons were found 
who, after having felled the majestic tree, could 
consent to sever the last roots binding that tree to 
earth. Pascal once said : " One never commits a 
bad deed more gladly or more gaily than when one 
is prompted to do so by some false principle." 

This false principle is the cause, when on the 
contrary it is not the consequence, of sentiments 
which do not reflect honour upon the human 
race ; they include : caste hatred, race hatred, mean 
egoism, latent barbarity, innate spite, in short all 
the worst passions which afflict the soul of the 
" human animal." The amalgam of these passions 



284 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

in politics, when it is stronger than the natural 
laws of humanity and the rights of mankind, is 
adorned with the high-sounding title of " Reasons 
of State." 

Reasons of State, on certain occasions, usurp the 
seat of justice and serve as a cloak to cover the 
Government's arbitrary deeds. The little Dauphin 
was assassinated for reasons of State. A quarter of 
a century later, for reasons of State resulting from 
the same evil passions, the duchesse d'Angouleme 
proved herself absolutely relentless towards several 
political prisoners. Mme. de La Bedoyere, Mme. 
la marechale Ney, the princesse de la Moskowa 
and the comtesse de La Valette vainly threw 
themselves at her feet imploring her to pardon 
their husbands. She would not allow her uncle, 
Louis XVIII, to sign any pardons. Let us frankly 
consider her as she really was ; do not let us 
shrink from examining this strange specimen of 
human nature. We want to see the woman in 
this princess, not the idol worshipped by crowds 
of time-servers. 

Unfortunately we find that the class and race 
prejudices of this narrow-minded female politician, 
together with her loveless existence embittered by 
secret jealousy of other and happier women — for 
it was said that she was married to a weakling 
" of narrow intellect," ^ and she had neither known 
the raptures of love nor the joys of maternity — 

^ Journal du markhal de Castellane^ vol. m, p. 312. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 285 

prevailed over the goodness and mercy which, as a 
Christian, she ought to have shown towards her 
enemies. For had not her father and mother set 
her a striking and touching example of mercy ? 
Kindness and mercy spring from the same source 
— love. But the unfortunate princess only knew 
enough of love to realize that it would never 
come to gladden her own life. In refusing to 
pardon these political oiFenders, she was swayed 
by her temper, truly a vindictive one ! Blood 
alone possessed the power to calm her nerves, 
those poor nerves which had suffered so cruelly 
by her unfortunate marriage with her cousin, the 
due d'Angouleme. Pity alone can soften our 
hearts ; the duchesse d'Angouleme was as great 
a stranger to pity as to love, and she imitated, 
all unconsciously, the sanguinary errors of her 
brother's murderers. And, like them, she took 
good care to produce many excellent maxims to 
prove that she was innocent of any evil intentions. 
But how did they get rid of the child-king ? 
Was he poisoned ? Was he stabbed ? or strangled ? 
Strangled very probably. For it would never have 
done to have left any traces in the room so soon 
to be occupied by the new-comer, and no tell-tale 
drops of blood must fall on the stairs. After all, 
the manner is of little consequence. It is only 
a question of detail, insoluble to-day for lack of 
written information or verbal tradition ; after all, 
the means employed to get rid of him are of small 



286 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

importance ; we can only make conjectures : the 
secret of the duchesse d'Angouleme was buried 
with her. For she knew the terrible secret, as 
we shall see later on. 

Meanwhile let us confine ourselves to register- 
ing the pure, simple and evident fact that the 
child died a violent death. The body of the 
little Dauphin was buried while it was still warm, 
perhaps before life was extinct, without any coffin, 
in the moat of the Temple, where it was found 
by M. d'Andigne's companions in June 1801. 

A few years later we find exactly the same 
case when his cousin, the due d'Enghien, was 
assassinated after an odious judicial comedy, and 
buried at night, while the body was still warm, 
without any coffin, in a trench previously prepared 
to receive the corpse at the bottom of the moat 
of Vincennes. 

They had procured from one of the hospitals 
a child of about the same age as the Dauphin, 
but a sufferer from rickets, scrofula and con- 
sumption, doomed to die within a few months 
on account of the lamentable state of his health. 
This unfortunate child even possessed one great 
advantage in that, by reason of the dangerous 
maladies from which he suffered, his end could 
be hastened or delayed either by more or less 
kind treatment, or by a more or less strengthening 
or debilitating regime, according to the needs of 
home or foreign politics. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 287 

When the representative Harmand de la Meuse 
was sent by the Convention with his colleagues 
Mathieu and Reverchon (December 19, 1794) ^ 
to visit the little prisoner in the tower of the 
Temple, he found in the corner of the child's 
room an earthenware porringer filled with some 
dark-coloured liquid in which a few lentils were 
floating. 

They were in a hurry just then to get rid 
of this invalid, who was becoming extremely 
embarrassing, as he prevented the conclusion of 
peace with Spain, etc. 

It was this child who had been substituted in 
place of him whom they had just suppressed. 

When the Comite de Salut public decreed (July i , 
1793) that the Dauphin was to be separated from 
his mother, his own, as well as his mother's doom, 
was already sealed. For one as for the other, it 
was only a case of dates, a question to be decided 
by circumstances. The decree ordered — and this 
fact makes our hypothesis more plausible — that 
the child was to be placed " in a separate apart- 
ment, situated in the best-guarded portion of the 
whole building of the Temple." 

Then, on September 14, the Convention followed 
suit, and published a decree expelling from the 
Temple all the ci-devant comte d'Artois' former 
servitors then employed there, including Turgy^ 

^ See Fr^d^ric Barbey, Madame Atkins et la Prison du Temple^ 
p. 184. 



288 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Chretien and Marchand, valets ; the citoyenne 
Leclerc, wife of a gendarme^ ci-devant huntsman 
in the service of the comte d'Artois ; and the w^ife 
and children of Salmon, his former footman. 

What v^as the meaning of this vv^holesale 
expulsion, unless it v^as to facilitate the plot for 
substituting a sick child in place of the Dauphin ? 
It would have been impossible to perpetrate such 
a fraud in the presence of all these servitors, 
who had often seen the son of Louis XVI ; 
there was not one of them who would not have 
detected the fraud and immediately revealed it. 

The Commune then nominated new employes, 
and justified this step by declaring that it was 
necessary to isolate the royal family from all 
suspicious neighbours, who, if a royalist attempt 
were made to abduct the child, might aid and 
abet the invaders. 

After the death of Marie-Antoinette (October 
1 6, 1793), Chaumette, public prosecutor in the 
service of the Commune^ ignorant of the secret 
plans of the Comite de Salut public, took it into his 
head to discover that the expenses necessary for 
the maintenance and service of the prisoners in 
the Temple were exaggerated ; he persuaded the 
Conseil general of the Commune to go en masse to 
the Convention and to demand that the prisoners 
should be transferred to the common prisons of 
the Republic, where they could be treated like 
the other prisoners. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 289 

This demand was made November 25. 

The Comite de Saiut public rejected the pro- 
position. 

But, when once the representatives of the 
Commune had departed, the Comite sent for 
Chaumette that they might have a private and 
confidential chat with him. 

History, or rather historians, are fond of giving 
credit to individuals and governments for schemes 
of which they are often totally innocent. We do 
not think that we shall be guilty of such an error 
if we assert that, when Chaumette left the salle^ 
the one or more members of the Comite who had 
summoned him (probably the Robespierre, Saint- 
Just and Couthon triumvirate perhaps Robespierre 
alone) had convinced him that he was on a wrong 
track, adding that the little prisoner's fate had 
already been decided, and that he, Chaumette, 
leader of the band of ruffians who were ever 
ready to do any dirty work in the Temple, was 
commissioned to carry out their orders. 

The Comite de Salut public kept its resolutions 
entirely secret, and naught was inscribed in the 
register of its proces-verbaux except what was 
meant to be inscribed. Therefore a decision made 
by one or more members, especially a decision of 
this sort made in secret and not during a regular 
sitting, could not be mentioned in a proces-verbal. 
That is why we are obliged, in this matter, to 
proceed by conjectures, especially when we know 
19 



290 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

on what lines business was conducted by the Comite 
de Salut public ! To its care were entrusted all the 
deeds relating to the executive powers. Although 
the Convention had taken measures to prevent any 
of the members of the Comite exercising undue 
influence, it was easy to evade this command. 
The Comite, composed of twelve members/ was 
divided into bureaux, charged to report upon all 
affairs relating to their respective departments, and 
these matters were almost invariably decided by 
the members of each bureau. Carnot, during a 
considerable period of time, was, with the divers 
employes chosen by him, at the head of the Comite' s 
military department. Robespierre, in his depart- 
ment, the general police bureau, enjoyed quite as 
much power in civil matters as Carnot enjoyed in 
military affairs. He was a veritable secretary of 
state for the home department, his powers enabling 
him to supervise almshouses, poor-relief funds, 
police, courts of justice, etc. He was all-powerful 
in his own department. One day Carnot, in a fit 
of anger, said to him : " Only arbitrary actions are 
committed in your bureau ; you are a dictator ! " ^ 
And Carnot told the truth. The decree dated 
January 21, 1793, was signed by Robespierre ; any 

1 Bar^re, Couthon, H^rault de S6chelles, Saint-Just, Jean-Bon 
Saint-Andr^, Prieur (de la Marne), Robert Lindet, Maximilien 
Robespierre, Carnot, Prieur (de la Cote d'Or), Collot d'Herbois, and 
Billaud-Varennes. 

^ Tissot, Memoires sur Carnot, p. 229. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 291 

one who can read can see that the decree of January 
19, 1794, bears the same signature. Why, then, 
should we be astonished if the " Incorruptible " did 
wish to suppress the son after having been instru- 
mental in causing the father's condemnation ? For, 
as long as Louis XVII lived, all their efforts were 
utterly useless. Instead of Louis XVI, they now 
had Louis XVII: that was all ! Instead of the 
full-grown monarch, they had a child-king. Must 
they not get rid of the one as they had got rid of 
the other ? And it is probable that Robespierre 
wished to complete his task. 

We have, therefore, every reason to believe that, 
at the conference held November 25, Chaumette 
received commands to make the necessary arrange- 
ments for the secret suppression of the child-king. 
And all this was done in cold blood, just as if they 
were merely voting for the purchase of new mili- 
tary baggage-wagons or decreeing the classification 
of the highways. 

All these men of the Revolution had the same 
strange and fatal family likeness : their patriotism 
or heroism was tinged with dishonesty. 'Tis sad, 
but true. And things must have been in a terrible 
state for these men thus to interpret their duty 
towards their country. I know well that this is 
not Kant's theory, and that no plea can be admitted 
in the code of Duty ; that, if you admit one plea, 
you must admit others ; that one cannot pause on 
the brink of a precipice ; that one must not let 



292 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

oneself be governed by passion, but by cool reason ; 
that the public interest, the country's very salvation 
can, under no circumstances, justify injustice and 
murder. . . . But in revolutionary times are we 
governed by passion or by reason ? Alas ! human 
nature is always the same. 

We will now say a few words about Chaumette 
and Hebert. The past history of these two men 
had not been particularly commendable. I think 
that, when writing their lives, it is better not to 
go into details. Hebert had a strange idea of 
honour. It seems that — we quote Camille Des- 
moulins — the former clerk of the box-ofHce in the 
Theatre des Varietes, this " charnel-house author," 
as he called him, had been dismissed for theft. 
And this was not his only misdemeanour. With 
his Pere Duchesne in his hand, he wallows on the 
ground at the foot of his ideal : vileness. Do not 
try to wean him from his loathsome idol ; do not 
expect him to be anything but vile. 

As to Chaumette, high-priest of the goddess 
Reason, he was Hebert's friend : that explains 
everything. We might cite one or two details 
which would prove him to be far from honourable. 
It would not do to be over-nice if one wished 
to esteem him. And yet some historians have 
managed to give a touch of poetry to these two 
creatures who were well worthy of each other, and 
who eventually completely debased each other ! 
Simon, Chaumette's tool, in the capacity of 



I 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 293 

" tutor," had been ordered to teach the " whelp " 
his lesson for the repulsive scene of October 7 
(the Dauphin's evidence against his mother), which 
lesson had been inculcated to him by his two 
masters. 

Though we may not like to allow it, we must 
confess that these individuals were admirably suited 
to their post in the Temple. But the dastardly 
coolness, together with the horrible plans conceived 
by this trio of blackguards, make us shudder. 
Nothing is more dangerous or more foreign to the 
straight path of duty, generosity and mercy than 
when the populace, thanks to political disturbances, 
manages to climb up into power. 

Alfieri, who, while passing through Paris in 
1793, was arrested and ill-treated by the revo- 
lutionary authorities, wrote : " Until then I only 
knew the tyranny of the upper classes, but now 
I know what the tyranny of the lower classes 
means." Shakespeare was familiar with it when 
he spoke of " the petty tyrants." They were just 
as tyrannical as the " tyrants " whom they had so 
often reviled ; they were even a thousand times 
more tyrannical, for they used all kinds of little 
refinements of meanness and coarseness unknown 
to the others. But as they were now the masters, 
everything was just and right — at least in their eyes. 

Be that as it may, when men are vile enough 
to concoct the disgraceful scene which took place 
when the Dauphin was confronted with his mother, 



294 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

we may be allowed to suspect that the child's 
murder had been planned, like any ordinary ad- 
ministrative combination, from an order given by 
some one occupying a very high position. That 
is why two men like Chaumette and Hebert were 
chosen to supervise the prisoners in the Temple. 
Who, else, would have accepted such a mission ? 

For they had accepted this mission. Senar, 
who had been secretary-clerk to the Comite de Surete 
generale^ and who, in this capacity, had learnt many 
secrets,^ left a memorandum written by his own 
hand, and reproduced in M. de Beauchesne's work 
on Louis XVII. ^ Simon, according to this author, 
is said, one day, to have remarked to one of his 
masters, either Chaumette or Hebert : 

"After all, what do they want to do with 
him ? Deport him ? " 

" No." 

" Kill him ? " 

" No." 

" Poison him ? " 

" No." 

" Well then, what ? " 

" Get rid of him." 

And Senar adds : 

" He was neither killed nor deported, but they 
got rid of him." 

1 Some of these secrets were published in his work entitled 

Revelations puisees dans les cartons du Comiti de Surete gknkrale. 

2 Vol. ii, p. 77. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 295 

Senar knew that they wanted " to get rid of 
him " without kiUing him or poisoning him, and 
he related what he had learnt. But he did not 
know, and very few conventionnels did know, that 
the first scheme had been quickly abandoned, and 
that they had decided to " kill him," but in such 
a manner that people might think that he had 
died a natural death. 

Chaumette, by a verbal order from the Comite 
de Salut public or from one of its members, probably 
dated November 25, 1793, had found a hypocritical 
way of arranging everything very comfortably by 
" killing " the Dauphin and substituting in his 
place a sick child whose death could be officially 
announced. Could they prevent a child dying 
when it had such a feeble constitution ? 

We shall now see that the scene enacted 
October 7, 1793, bears the same stamp as the 
crime of January 19, 1794. Both reek of 
hypocrisy, and both bear the same manufacturer's 
mark. The brain which conceived the first con- 
ceived the second. The latter is signed, we might 
say : we note the same mechanism, the same tissue 
of lies, the same little game of double-barrelled 
deceit. A police inspector or an examining 
magistrate would immediately detect the fraud. 
Hebert, who had been clerk in a theatrical box- 
office, prided himself upon having been connected 
with the stage, as indeed Collot d'Herbois and 
Fabre d'Eglantine had once been ; like both of 



296 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the latter, he flattered himself that he could scribble 
a play on occasion. And Chaumette, who re- 
organized the Paris almshouses and hospitals, was 
better qualified than any one else to procure the 
little invalid indispensable to the execution of this 
ghastly feat of legerdemain. It was he, moreover, 
who decreed that the funerals of rich and poor 
alike were to be conducted on the same lines. Do 
we not find traces of this idea in the summary 
burial given to the little Dauphin ? 

Nothing took place in the Temple without the 
permission, or except by order, of the Commune s 
prosecutor-syndic, Chaumette. Hebert, his devoted 
right hand, did nothing without his consent. 

Simon executed all their commands with servile 
obedience ; did he not owe to Chaumette his post 
as functionary with a salary of 6,000 livres, together 
with the sum of 3,000 livres for his wife, lodgings 
in the Temple in the apartment once occupied by 
Louis XVI, and all the nice little perquisites 
attached to such a position ? So he asked for 
nothing better than to be allowed to prove his 
gratitude to his benefactor. When Chaumette and 
Hebert ordered him to teach his pupil the infamous 
lesson which the latter had to repeat first in their 
presence, and then in the presence of his mother 
and aunt, Simon did not protest ; he thought it a 
capital idea ; he considered that it was his duty to 
obey, and so he obeyed. If his masters had ordered 
him to strangle his pupil, he would have done so. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 297 

He did it, very probably — as we shall see. 
And for this job, worthy of a licensed assassin, he 
received a salary equal to a general's pay. And he 
earned it conscientiously. 

The new scheme for the assassination of the 
Dauphin certainly dates from the days immediately 
following the execution of Marie-Antoinette 
(October i6). About this time ^ it was reported 
that the Dauphin was being treated with less 
severity. How can we explain this fact, except 
that his doom was sealed, and that, "for humanity's 
sake," they did not wish to embitter his last days ? 

In November and December they began to 
take the necessary administrative measures in order 
to facilitate the crime, insure secrecy, and hide all 
tell-tale traces. At first they only talked and 
discussed plans. Everything having been arranged 
and the ground well prepared, the prologue to the 
drartia commenced on January 2, 1794. 

A decree was first passed forbidding any 
functionary in the service of the State to assume 
the office of conseiller general de la Commune, 

This decree had a secret meaning. Here is 
the key : 

Chaumette and Hebert, having been commanded 
— or perhaps only authorized — to get rid of the 
prince, thought that it was time to put their 
theory into practice, and so they decided upon the 
following scheme : 

1 Dr. Cabanes, loc. cit.^ p. 422. 



298 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

They would ask the municipal authorities, 
under some futile pretext but without revealing 
the real reason, to publish the above decree ; 

Then Simon, with a fine show of disinterested- 
ness, preferring " honour " to pelf, was to give in 
his resignation as tutor to the " little Capet." This 
action would be worthy of the Romans or of 
the Spartans, who, in those days, were all the 
rage. It is needless to add that he was to receive 
compensation ; 

Then Simon was to give his pupil into the 
hands of the Commune s delegates ; the latter, 
after having ascertained and declared in a proces- 
verbal that the child was in good health, were to 
sign Simon's discharge ; 

Then Simon was to take the " whelp " back to 
its room and there ... he was to perform the 
duty, the real duty after all, for which he had been 
summoned to the Temple with a deputy's salary ; 

Then Simon, having done the deed, under 
pretence of removing his goods and chattels (he 
was to leave the Temple that very evening), aided 
by darkness (for in January the days are short, 
staircases dark and lanterns almost useless, and 
they were to wait until nightfall to act), Simon 
was to carry away the little body in a parcel or in 
a basket, and to throw it into a hole previously 
prepared in the moat of the Temple. 

Meanwhile, what could be easier than to 
smuggle into the Dauphin's room, enclosed in 




SIMON 



ANTOINE SIMON. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 299 

another (or even in the same) basket or in a big 
cardboard hobby-horse, the Httle invahd destined to 
take the place of the dead child ? It was all very- 
simple, as we can see. And Simon, whatever 
happened, whatever History or posterity or his 
superiors might think of his behaviour, had nothing 
to fear ; could he not show his receipt duly signed ? 
The scheme was carried out with the greatest 
exactitude. On January 2, 1794, as we have 
said, the Commune passed a decree forbidding any 
functionary to occupy more than one public post 
at a time (plurality of offices). 

On January 5 Simon gave in his resignation, 
was complimented by the civic authorities upon 
his noble disinterestedness, and his name was put 
down for future employment in the service of the 
Commune. 

The Comite de Salut public now only had to be 
informed of Simon's resignation and " its advice 
asked concerning the nomination of the citoyen 
who was to take the place of the citoyen Simon, 
guardian of the little Capet." ^ 

On January 8 five members of the Conseil 
general de la Commune repaired to the salle of the 
Comite de Salut public and accomplished this 
formality. 

On January 16 the Comite de Salut public^ 
heartily entering into Chaumette's scheme, and 
evidently well aware of the conspiracy (or at least 
1 De Beauchesne, Louis XVII, vol. ii, p. 176. 



300 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

some of its members, including the head of the 
police department), gave out that " it considered 
Simon's mission useless, and thought that the 
members of the Conseil alone ought to have the 
supervision of the prisoners in the Temple." 

The Conseil general then decided that four of 
its members, as guard-commissaries, to be changed 
every day, were in future to watch over the prisoners 
in the tower of the Temple. Why were they to 
be changed every day .? Because if by chance one 
of them happened to perceive the child, very 
probably he would not see it again until several 
months had elapsed, and would notice nothing ; 
whereas a permanent guard might, especially at 
first, detect the substitution. 

Until now, everything had succeeded admirably. 
There was no reason why the denouement should not 
be hastened. Moreover, the hour had been well 
chosen. They were preparing to celebrate the 
anniversary of the death of Louis XVI. Cowardly 
passions were so excited, the mad thirst for blood 
was so universal, that, if by chance the truth tran- 
spired, no one could be shocked at such a horrible 
crime. The anti-royalist zeal of the Parisian 
populace was not allowed to languish for want 
of official manifestations. Any one who knows 
how easily crowds get excited can imagine to 
what a pitch of excitement the public mind had 
risen, especially during this hard winter, doubly 
hard to bear by reason of the terrible poverty then 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 301 

prevalent. Pierre Charron said — and his remark 
applies to all periods of history — " We are in- 
fluenced by the air which we breathe and in 
which we exist, and in this we do but imitate 
our first parents." And as we are all more or 
less influenced by circumstances, according to our 
individual natures and according to the violence 
of our passions, often stronger than ourselves, en- 
slaving us and forcing us to blind obedience — 
especially when those passions are evil ; as, during 
great public calamities, during guillotinades, plagues 
or wars, the sense of tenderness and pity, instead of 
increasing fourfold, becomes blunt and worn ; as 
people begin to pay no attention to a deed which, in 
ordinary times, would make every one shudder with 
horror — so people were by no means astonished to 
hear it said that the best way to celebrate the 
anniversary of the execution of the last king was to 
slaughter his son. Truly such morals are worthy 
of the savage tribes in Central Africa. But which 
of us can be certain, really certain, that in those 
times, and under the same circumstances, he would 
not have been attacked by the same moral and 
mental malaria which assailed these creatures, 
thirsting to commit murder .? One must have an 
intimate knowledge of human nature to be able to 
judge fairly of any epoch ; it is impossible in times 
of peace, in the still solitude of one's own study, to 
think calmly and justly of those bloody, turbulent 
days. Fouche, who had shown himself more 



302 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

bloodthirsty than any of his companions, who 
perhaps had found the cup of remorse more bitter 
than his unfortunate victims had found the cup of 
suffering — Fouche, the sanguinary, while engaged 
one evening, during the Restauration, in private 
conversation with M. de Caraman, suddenly covered 
his face with his hands, crying : " Ah ! don't speak 
to me of those days ; we were all suffering from a 
bloody fever, we were mad for blood ! " -^ Fouche 
had good reasons, and very personal reasons, in 
speaking thus and in trying to forget unpleasant 
memories ; but it is nevertheless true that, during 
the Revolutionary epoch — as at all times — every 
one walked, or rather ran, blindfold. Did not 
the principal actors in this drama, and Robes- 
pierre in especial, hold themselves up to the public 
as models of virtue and sensibility ? And — oh, 
miracle of sophistry ! — it was in the name of 
virtue and sensibility that they decided to slaughter 
this ten-year-old child. 

The crime must have been committed on the 
evening of January 1 9,^ while Simon was removing 

^ Baronne de Montet, Souvenirs, p. 429. 

2 " On January 19 we heard a loud noise in my brother's room, 
which made us conjecture that he was leaving the Temple ; and 
we were convinced of this fact when, on peeping through our 
shutters, we saw a number of parcels being taken away " [Memoirs 
written by Marie-Theres'e-Charlotte de France on the captivity of her 
royal parents from August lo, 1792, until her brother's death, June 9, 
1795). And to think that, while Madame Royale was watching 
the removal of Simon's furniture, she probably saw the parcel 
containing her brother's corpse ! 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 303 

his furniture under cover of nightfall. For why- 
was this change of residence not finished before 
nine o'clock at night, as M. Lenotre, that indefatig- 
able searcher of old documents, tells us ? And yet 
this sorry couple could not have been overburdened 
with goods and chattels, as the greater part of the 
furniture belonged to the Temple and to the State. 
This removal by night was therefore intentional. 
Why ? That they might remove the little 
Dauphin's body more easily, and that they might 
smuggle his substitute into his room. And that is 
what happened in the dark night, up those winding, 
badly-lit staircases, while furniture was being pushed 
roughly about, while men were tramping up and 
down stairs, opening and shutting heavy doors, no 
doubt just at the very moment when the room 
would have to be rather deserted in order to 
smuggle the little invalid. And he was brought 
in one of those great baskets used for removing 
china, or in a cardboard hobby-horse, the so- 
called present which Simon's wife wished to give 
to her little friend to console him for her departure. 
He was immediately placed in the warm bed, but 
lately occupied by the son of Louis XVL The body 
of the real Dauphin was obviously wrapped up by 
Simon, made into a parcel or placed in a basket — 
according to the preconcerted programme — and 
carried to the moat. He was thrown — perhaps while 
he was still breathing — into the hole which had 
been prepared to receive him, and hastily covered 



304 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

with the quickUme placed by the side of the Httle 
mound of loose earth. The grave having been filled, 
Simon no doubt stamped upon it with all his might. 

Meanwhile the commissaries Legrand, Las- 
nier, Cochefer and Lorinet had come to receive 
" Capet's son " from the hands of Simon. The 
woman Simon, who knew all about the drama 
which had just taken place, in which she had 
played a part by putting the new-comer to bed, 
showed them, by the feeble light of a flickering 
lantern, a child asleep in a bed at the far end of 
the room. The commissaries went away quite 
satisfied. The woman Simon then followed her 
husband, who, having accomplished his ghastly 
task, had gone to cheer himself up in the wine- 
shop situated within the Temple walls, and was 
now drinking with the other servitors to the 
success of the fete which was to take place two 
days later. It is probable that he blabbed while 
touching glasses with his boon-companions. And 
thus it was that, in 1801, M. Fauconnier, the con- 
cierge of the Temple, knew that the Dauphin's 
remains had been deposited in the moat surround- 
ing the old fortress. 

After having drunk heavily and blabbed freely, 
to the delight, of all their companions, the citoyen 
and citoyenne Simon departed to their new abode, 
satisfied that they had done their duty and con- 
vinced that they had saved the Republic. 

M. de Beauchesne, who has so carefully and 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 305 

minutely studied all the events which took place 
in the Temple, had no suspicion of the drama 
enacted January 19, because, although he had read 
M. d'Andigne's evidence, he did not realize its 
importance ; he did not know that the child who 
died in the Temple, June 8, 1795, was not the 
Dauphin, and that a sick child had been substi- 
tuted in place of the young prince — and this 
substitution, when we learn that a child's skeleton 
had been discovered in the Temple grounds, gives 
us the key to the problem. 

On the other hand, he informs us most 
minutely of all the events which happened in the 
tower on the day following Simon's departure. 

" The Comite decided," he writes, " that Simon 
was not to have a successor. . . . Chaumette and 
Hebert, who had the management of all the affairs 
concerning the Temple, accepted this decision, 
which left them practically free to act as they 
thought best. 

" They declared that, although the permanent 
guard had been withdrawn, they would take good 
care to insure the safety of the little prisoner; and 
on the morrow, that is to say, on the ist pluvoise^ 
an III (January 20, 1794), they ordered that his 
lodgings were to be limited to one room ; the 
child was therefore shut up in the end room, which 
had belonged to Clery, and, later, to the woman 
Simon during her illness. The door of communi- 
cation between the ante-room and this door was 



806 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

cut down to about three feet from the floor, 
securely fastened with nails and screws, and grated 
with iron bars from top to bottom. A shelf was 
affixed to the top of this partition; some of the 
bars were then cut to form a wicket, closed by 
other movable bars fastened with a huge padlock. 
The little Capet received his coarse victuals through 
this wicket ; it was on this ledge that he had to 
place anything which he wanted to send back." i 
Does this not prove that they wished to keep the 
new-comer entirely in the background, so that 
no one might discover the substitution ? Does 
it not also prove that they wished, by confining 
in a prison-like chamber this little invalid who 
more than any one else needed exercise and fresh 
air, to hasten the unhappy child's end ? The child 
of the people was certainly treated with the same 
cruelty and neglect which had embittered the last 
days of the child of royalty. 

" All these arrangements," continues M. de 
Beauchesne, " were decided and carried out on the 
ist pluviose (January 20). Night having fallen, 
the work was finished by the light of lanterns. 
By some cruel calculation, or by some fatal coin- 
cidence, the royal orphan entered his new prison 
on the very day on which his father ascended the 
scaffold." 

We know that this little prisoner was not the 
" royal orphan," but his substitute. 

' De Beauchesne, Louis XV 11^ vol. ii, p. 181. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 307 

" Ah ! cruel cowards," cries M. de Beauchesne, 
addressing the poor child's tormentors, " why did 
you not put the knife to the lamb's throat ? Oh ! 
why did you not throw over that little head the 
bloody net in whose meshes you had already 
caught other members of his family? Why did 
you pause in your murderous fury ? It would 
have been better to have drunk this last drop of 
royal blood than to have mingled wormwood, gall 
and poison with it. It would have been better to 
have suffocated the child, as Richard Ill's emis- 
saries had already done in the Tower of London 
to two other innocent beings, than to have debased 
and sullied his mind by this slow murder, en- 
deavouring to kill the soul before you killed the 
body. You ought to have sacrificed him a year, 
two years ago ; you ought to have helped those 
little feet to ascend the rough steps of the guillo- 
tine. . . . Alas ! History must perforce regret that 
Louis XVII did not expire in the motherly arms 
of the scafFold."! 

M. de Beauchesne and History are mistaken ; 
like his father and his mother, the child did not 
languish very [long. His fate was similar to the 
fate of the children of Edward IV. They were 
strangled in the Tower of London: he was strangled 
in the tower of the Temple. In his place, a little 
nameless child, sick unto death, was condemned to 
suffer all the tortures of imprisonment, isolation, 
^ M. de Beauchesne, Louis XVII, vol. ii, p. 215. 



308 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

filth and never-ending night. . . . The Dauphin 
was happier than his substitute. 

Poor Httle children ! ^ 

The bloodthirsty minions who had just made 
away with this beautiful boy — for the Dauphin was 
a beautiful child — whom, if not on account of his 
tender age, at least on account of his beauty, they 
ought never to have hurt, thought perhaps that 
they had accomplished a very meritorious deed. 
These monsters had observed the greatest secrecy; 
this fact alone ought to have betrayed them : 
people only hide when they are up to no good. 
Perhaps they boasted of their crime. But the 
individuals to whom they boasted in the hope of 
gaining honour, glory and profit, although they 
themselves were not over-scrupulous, probably 
ordered them in a tone which admitted of no 
reply to keep their tongues behind their teeth. 
Robespierre, who had commanded Chaumette and 
Hebert to get rid of the Dauphin, was too wary to 
allow such witnesses to exist, though they were 
bound to him by the chains of brotherhood in 
crime. For the sake of prudence he had to get rid 
of them just as if they were mere Dauphins. It was 

1 Victor Hugo was not thinking of the Dauphin, however, 
when he wrote in his Quatre-vingt-treize : " What do we not 
forgive a child ? We forgive him for being a noble, a prince, or a 
king. His innocent soul makes us forget the sins of his race ; his 
feeble body makes us forget his high rank. He is so little that we 
forgive him for being so great. The slave forgives him for being 
his master." None of the Dauphin's sins were forgiven. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 309 

such an easy matter in those tumultuous, troublous 
days, when Barere said : " The guillotine is all- 
powerful ; it alone governs us." And then 
Fouquier-Tinville and the guillotine were such 
excellent creatures ! So a few days after January 19, 
Robespierre got up the case against the hebertistes^ 
and on March 24 Hebert was guillotined. Not 
much time had been lost in getting rid of him, and 
thus insuring silence on his part. 

Three weeks later Chaumette, too, was silenced. 
Care was taken to implicate the prosecutor of the 
Commune in the case against the dantonistes, 
although he had had nothing to do with it ; and on 
April 13 his head fell on the scaffold. Did not 
Saint-Just, in his sententious, academical affectation, 
allude to the Dauphin's fate when he said in his 
report, that report which led to the impeachment 
of Danton and the dantonistes : " Little does it 
matter if time leads divers forms of vanity to the 
scaffold, to the grave, to nothingness^ provided that 
liberty triumphs ! We shall then learn modesty. 
The French people, after having been oppressed, 
. . . will, in their turn, become the oppressors of 
false prejudices and tyrants " ? 

The fact that Hebert and Chaumette were 
accomplices in a crime which Robespierre was 
extremely anxious to hide, has been quite over- 
looked — and for a very good reason — by the 
historians of the Revolution. And yet this fact 
was the principal cause, the only one perhaps, for 



310 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

which the hebertistes were arrested, condemned and 
executed. 

Let us observe, meanwhile, that the fact of 
sending to the scaffold such accomplished terrorists 
as " the high-priest of the goddess of Reason " and 
the principal editor of Pere Duchesne, both 
governors of the Temple, would suffice to prove 
their complicity in a crime of which Robespierre 
was anxious to suppress all the witnesses ; this fact 
proves that the Dauphin had been murdered, and 
that the instigator of January 21, 1793, was the 
instigator of January 19, 1794. 

Certainly Robespierre was not the only member 
of the Comite de Salut public who knew of the 
secret drama in the Temple. Saint-Just was surely 
not ignorant of it ; Couthon, Collot d'Herbois and 
Billot-Varennes were equally well aware of what had 
happened. . . . And, as we have just read in the 
extract from Saint-Just's report, it would be very 
easy to find in their speeches many an allusion to 
this secret. The Comite de Salut public did not 
personally participate in the crime. Robespierre 
had acted independently, on his own authority. 
The Comite had been obliged to accept the accom- 
plished fact, although it did not mean, by so doing, 
that it approved the crime. On the 9th thermidor 
Robespierre, together with Saint-Just and Couthon, 
understood many things about which they had 
hitherto been in doubt. And yet, as they were 
bound by a sort of moral engagement, they were 



\ 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 311 

one and all obliged to keep silent on this subject ; 
but surely the conventionnels must have discussed the 
matter among themselves. 

Hebert and Chaumette were not the only actors 
or v^itnesses of the crime v^ho were suppressed. 
The others were reprieved, but only for a time ; 
their turn had still to come. Nearly all ascended 
the scaffold. 

Of the four members of the Conseil general de 
la Commune who received the little sick child 
destined to take the place of the Dauphin in the 
Temple, three were guillotined. 

Cochef er was executed on the i oth thermidor.^ 

Lasnier,^ who certainly knew the secret of the 

^ Christophe Cochefer, upholsterer by profession, a native of 
Gonesse, in the department of Seine-et-Oise, residing in Paris, rue 
Merry, No. 413 {Proch-verhal of his execution). Extract from the 
Moniteur for the 6th. fructidor^ an II. For it was not until the 6th 
fructidor^ that is to say, twenty-six days after the execution of 
Robespierre and his scaffold companions, that the Moniteur decided 
to publish the list of the men executed on the loth thermidor. 
Barras said : " Even after his execution, on nearly all sides vague 
fears were expressed that this implacable man, whose inexorable 
discourses and merciless decrees had caused so much grief and 
sorrow, might return to life" [Mimoires^ vol. i, p. 202). 

^ Commune de Paris. Conseil general. 

1st pluviose., an II (January 20, 1794), Lasnier says: " One 
of your decrees orders that the young Capet is to remain under the 
immediate supervision of the commissaries on guard in the Temple ; 
yesterday, Simon and his wife gave the child, who was in good 
health, into our care, requesting us to give them a receipt, which 
we did." 

The Conseil ratifies the receipt given to the citoyen Simon 
[Moniteur^ January 22, 1794). 



312 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

drama in the Temple, was guillotined on the 
morrow, the nth thermidor} 

Legrand was guillotined the same day.^ 
The steward of the Temple, Coru, a member of 
the Conseil general de la Commune^ who, assuredly, 
knew all about the affair, was also guillotined on 
the iith.^ 

Simon was guillotined on the loth.^ 
After the events which took place in Thermidor^ 
the Commune was nearly entirely reorganized, and 
the secret of the Temple was soon forgotten by 
every one. 

The four " municipal guards " on duty in the 
tower, who were changed every twenty-four hours, 
were now "guarding nothing but stones," as one of 
their number remarked — for no one ever saw the 
little prisoner. 

As to Simon, he had conscientiously fulfilled 
all the conditions of the bargain and completed the 
task for which Chaumette had got him appointed 

1 Jacques Lasnier, man of business by profession, fifty-two 
years of age, a native of Ozouer-Laf6riere, in the department of 
Seine-et-Marne, residing in Paris, rue du Four-Germain, No. 286. 

^ Pierre- Jacques Legrand, man of business by profession, aged 
fifty-one years, a native of Paris, there residing, rue d'Enfer, in the 
City, No. 5. 

^ Jacques-Pierre Coru, seedsman by profession, aged sixty- 
three years, a native of Noof, in the department of Orne, residing 
in Paris, rue Antoine, No. 229. 

^ Antoine Simon, shoemaker, aged fifty-eight years, a native of 
Troyes, m the department of Aube, residing in Paris, rue Marat, 
No. 32. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 313 

to the Temple. He had earned his salary. While 
waiting for the Commune to nominate him to the 
post for which his name had been inscribed, he had 
been authorized to lodge, as we have already seen, 
in a building adjoining the Temple. On April 6, 
1794, he was nominated inspector of army baggage- 
wagons.^ Having imprudently returned to Paris 
a fortnight before the 9th thermidor, his presence was 
discovered, and he was outlawed by a decree from 
the Convention, with ten other former members of 
the Conseil general de la Commune, arrested and 
guillotined together with Robespierre, Couthon and 
Saint-Just. . . . Some of the thermidoriens, em- 
barrassed, no doubt, by the presence of this brute, 
who knew too much, thought the opportunity 
favourable in which to get rid of him, so they 
inscribed his name on the list of those who were 
ripe for the guillotine. 

One actor in the drama of the Temple now 
alone remained. Only a few conventionnels still 
survived who knew exactly, by tacit connivance 
rather than by complicity, what means had been 
employed to get rid of Louis XVH. No doubt 
they had sworn to keep silent ; that is why the 
drama, notwithstanding all the ensuing divisions, 
proscriptions and deportations, was never discovered; 

^ No doubt in place of Etienne Ragondet, ci-devant horse- 
dealer, commander of the battalion for the Section of the Republic 
and inspector of army baggage- wagons, guillotined 24th germinal 
(April 13, 1794) in the same batch as Chaumette. 



314 THE KING WHO NEVEK REIGNED 

that is why they allowed the little invalid, by his 
death, to corroborate the lie. The Convention was 
accustomed feebly to disclaim excesses because 
they were excesses ; but it approved any system by 
which it could rid itself of any powerful enemies. 
This terrible Government must not, could not be 
in the wrong. So strict orders were given that on 
no account were the two children in the Temple 
to be allowed to walk or to play together in the 
garden ; they must not meet, not even in the 
staircase of the tower ; they must not see each 
other, not even from a distance. And yet, though 
some may deny the fact, how many times did 
Madame Royale beg to be allowed to see her 
brother ! This favour was always refused ; they 
continued to refuse her request even after Thermidor. 
Why should they so sternly and cruelly forbid 
the sister to see her brother, even from afar .? 
Because the young prisoner would have imme- 
diately exclaimed : " But that child is not my 
brother ! " 

And she who was condemned to live would 
have loudly declared that they had substituted a 
child in place of him whom they had condemned 
to die. 

This also explains why the Convention refused to 
allow M. Hue to enter the Dauphin's room. When 
in the beginning of 1795 reports were spread that 
the Dauphin was ill, Louis XVFs former valet de 
chambre^ truly a faithful servant, begged the Comite 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 315 

de Surete generale to allow him to be shut up 
with the young prince that he might take care 
of him. 

His request was refused. 

Why? 

Because M. Hue, who had seen the Dauphin 
many times, would have immediately discovered 
the imposture, and would have denounced the 
substitution. 

Ah ! that State secret, truly the most odious 
secret possible to find in the history of a civilized 
nation, was very carefully guarded. But why were 
they silent after Thermidor ? Why did they not 
change the little prisoner's regime — which regime 
was not shared by Madame Royale .? . . . For 
they were now beginning to treat her with more 
attention ; her hard lot was softened, her food was 
carefully cooked and nicely served. ... If the 
little sick child who died in the tower in such 
misery had really been her brother, he would have 
been treated like her. Why did they treat him so 
harshly ? Why did they let this poor child die 
without having seen his sister, without a doctor, 
utterly uncared for ? 

For reasons of State. This child, Robespierre's 
legacy, was in the way ; his end had to be 
hastened, so that they might get rid of him as 
soon as possible, for the most insignificant incident 
might lead to the discovery of the substitution. 
It was necessary to announce the death of the son 



316 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

of Louis XVI as soon as possible, so that people 
might cease to mention his name. 

This crime had united all the members of the 
Convention into one brotherhood — the brotherhood 
of crime. The AssembUe could not openly declare 
that its Comites hadi allowed such a deed to be 
perpetrated, had closed its eyes to such a fraud. 
This twofold shame would have completely ruined 
the AssembUe. No matter what happened, it must 
indorse all responsibility and accept the heritage of 
the past. The few remaining parties to the crime, 
the survivors of the hecatombs, and especially of 
the last, the hecatomb of the nth thermidor, took 
good care not to breathe one syllable of the secret 
drama. As we have already said, they were bound 
by vows of secrecy. Could the Convention do other- 
wise than also] keep silence .? . . . This terrible 
assembly, which had sent so many persons to their 
death, was afraid of the grim spectre : it did not 
wish to commit suicide. But this false position 
was very painful. On more than one occasion, 
motions had been made by various uninitiated 
members — prompted, no doubt, by a desire to put 
an end to the reports of abduction and imprison- 
ment which circulated from time to time — demand- 
ing that the Dauphin and his sister should be 
liberated ! The Convention felt that it must say 
something, either give an evasive answer or ex- 
press some hypocritical sentiments. However, on 
January 22, 1795, Cambaceres gave a decisive 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 317 

answer. This declaration had been provoked by 
the attitude adopted by M. Lequinio, the repre- 
sentative for le Morbihan. 

M. Cambaceres said : 

" There are only two courses to take with 
regard to the individuals to whom we refer : we 
must either banish them from the territory of the 
Republic, or else we must keep them in captivity. 
If we adopt the latter course, we may have reason 
to fear that their presence in our midst may cause 
endless riots and disturbances. If, on the contrary, 
we banish them, we shall be placing in our enemies' 
hands a dangerous weapon which, one day, may be 
used against us, and occasion undying hatred, cruel 
vengeance and bloody wars. Shall we not, by so 
doing, furnish a centre, a rallying-point for the 
cowardly deserters from the fatherland ? . . . Our 
enemies are far less dangerous when they are in our 
power than when they pass into the hands of those 
who support their cause or who are anxious to 
espouse their party. . . . Calumny will never 
weary in her attempts to sully your good name ; 
whether Capet's children be banished or whether 
you keep them in captivity, your enemies will say 
that you are keeping the royal offspring to place 
them on the throne, or that you are giving them 
into the enemy's hands that they may serve as a 
weapon with which to fight the Republic. Follow, 
then, the road prescribed by wisdom and energy. 
Wisdom commands you to be on your guard ; 



318 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

energy orders you to strike all the enemies of 
liberty. . . . We have little to fear by keeping the 
members of the Capet family in captivity ; if we 
banished them, we should be doing a very dangerous 
thing. The banishment of tyrants has nearly 
always led to their re-establishment. If Rome had 
kept the Tarquins, she would not have been obliged 
to fight against them." Thus spake the future 
prince, arch-chancellor and arch-glutton of the 
Empire. For reasons of State it was necessary that 
they should vote as he wished, and so the Govern- 
ment's advice was followed. Never was a nation 
oppressed so cruelly by despotic monarch or blood- 
thirsty tyrant ; never did Robespierre weigh so 
heavily upon the consciences of the peculators, 
" thieves " and " corrupted " who caused the 9th 
thermidor} as the memory of this little dead child 
weighed upon the minds of all his tormentors ! 

It told upon foreign politics, as was inevitable. 
Let us judge for ourselves. 

In 1794 the king of Spain caused peace 
overtures to be made to the Government of the 
French Republic. Charles IV, as a Bourbon, 
remembered that two little waifs of the House of 
Bourbon were still living, dragging out a miserable 
existence in Paris. He asked, therefore, as a first 
condition, that the son and daughter of Louis XVI 

1 Mallet du Pan described them exactly when he said : "They 
are valets who, having murdered their masters, have snatched the 
sceptre from their dead hands." 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 319 

might be confided to his charge. He said : " Not 
only his Catholic Majesty, but the king of Sardinia 
also, will never consent to a reconciliation with the 
French Republic until they have obtained satis- 
faction founded upon human nature's strongest 
feelings." Tuscany, also, began similar negotiations. 

The French Government was extremely em- 
barrassed ; how could they send Madame Royale 
to Spain or Italy with a poor invalid whom she 
would immediately disown ? What a scandal it 
would make ! It was quite impossible. They 
could not accept such a proposition before death 
had put an end to the sufferings of the dying child. 
They need only wait a little longer. These ne- 
gotiations, meanwhile, served to conceal the crime. 
Who could have imagined such an imbroglio ? The 
French Government was talking of releasing the 
Dauphin — who they knew was dead — and was 
trying to delay the said negotiations until the death 
of the substitute, so that the crime and the fraud 
might be buried from sight for ever. When he 
was dead, they would give the daughter of Louis 
XVI to any one who cared to take her ; the French 
Government would make no objections. 

So the Comite de Salut public tried to gain time. 
Making a great show of dignity in order to hide 
its embarrassment, for some time it vouchsafed no 
reply ; but at last it sent the following instructions 
to Simonin, its representative at the court of 
Madrid : " If we appear too eager, they will think 



320 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

that we wish to make advances ; now, a great 
nation should never make advances when it is 
threatened." 

It was probably about this time — they said that 
it was on May 1 1 , the day following the death of 
Madame Elisabeth — that Robespierre paid a visit 
to the Temple. But did he really do so ? If he 
did do so, it was probably in order to ascertain de 
visu the state of the pseudo-Dauphin's health, and 
to judge of the shorter or longer period of time 
during which it would be necessary to prolong the 
said negotiations. Let us note this coincidence, 
without, however, attaching too much importance 
thereto, and then pass on. 

As to the Spanish Government, which, unlike 
the French Government, did not need to waste 
time, it disclosed its propositions to Simonin with- 
out further delay. These the latter transmitted to 
Paris. " The king of Spain," wrote he, " is pre- 
pared to negotiate peace on the following basis : 

" I. Spain is to recognize the French 
Republic. 

" II. France is to deliver the children of 
Louis XVI into the care of his Catholic 
Majesty. 

" III. The French provinces on the borders 
of Spain are to form an independent State for 
the son of Louis XVI, which State he is to 
govern under the title of king of Navarre." 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 321 

Thereupon the Comife de Salut public flew into 
a passion — and for a very good reason. Convinced 
that the king of Spain would only add other equally 
unacceptable conditions to that of the release of the 
children of Louis XVI, it immediately recalled its 
agent from Madrid. Moreover, it sent orders to 
the two generals commanding the two armies of 
the Pyrenees — Dugommier, so soon to die on the 
field of honour and to be replaced by Perignon, 
and Muller, soon replaced by Moncey — to resume 
hostilities and to advance steadily. These two 
generals won several victories, and, as the little 
invalid in the Temple at last consented to die, 
June 8, 1795, peace was concluded with Spain 
during the following month. 

Peace was likewise concluded with Sardinia. 

Then, as all obstacles had been removed, Mont- 
gaillard began secret negotiations with the Austrian 
Government. This official had much trouble to 
convince the baron von Thugut that Austria would 
find it well worth her while to receive the daughter 
of Louis XVI. But Austria did not want her. 
Thugut, foreseeing at last that his fatherland might 
benefit by accepting France's proposals, yielded. 
The French Government was now in a position 
to issue a decree declaring that it was willing to 
exchange Madame Royale for its subjects then 
imprisoned in Austria. This decree was dated the 
1 2th messidor, an III (July 30, 1795). 

So we see that, since June 8, the French 



322 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

diplomatists had not wasted their time, but that, 
on the contrary, they had acted with remarkable 
rapidity. 

Why ? 

Because their hands were no longer tied ; because 
the little prisoner in the Temple no longer stood in 
their way. 

We may also remark that Spain, in 1794, had 
asked that the children of Louis XVI might be 
given into her care ; while in 1795, almost imme- 
diately after the death of the pseudo-Dauphin, it 
was France who asked Austria if she would kindly 
accept the unfortunate sovereign's daughter. 

Why? 

Because France, no longer embarrassed by the 
presence of the little invalid whom she could show to 
no one, was only too delighted to get rid of Madame. 

The years, as they fade away into the dark 
mists of the past, may be likened unto a sphinx. 
Though we question them, they answer not, yet 
we can sometimes force them to speak. 

But how many human lives were sacrificed to 
conceal the crime and fraud ! How many soldiers, 
both in the French and Spanish armies, fell on the 
bloody battle-field ! . . . That " unknown philo- 
sopher," Saint-Martin, would say : " As I thought 
I beheld the hand of Providence in our Revolution, 
so I can believe that it is perhaps necessary that 
sin-offerings should be offered up in order to 
consolidate the edifice." 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 323 

Joseph de Maistre considered the edifice 
" Satanic," but he had to acknowledge that the 
Revolution was a judgment from God. And prob- 
ably, when he heard the official announcement of 
the Dauphin's death, he repeated to himself that 
verse in the Bible : " Propter peccata patrum filii 
affligentur. . . ." 

As to the duchesse d'Angouleme, she changed 
her opinion several times upon her unfortunate 
brother's fate before she was able to arrive at a 
fixed decision. 

We can quite understand this fact : she did not 
learn the truth until some time after her return to 
France. ... 

When did she learn it ? 

The date of the Dauphin's murder is less easy 
to prove than to assert ; we can only guess at the 
date. Let us, however, express a few conjectures 
founded upon common-sense and the knowledge 
of human nature. 

At first, as was very natural, she believed the 
allegations of the two eye-witnesses ; they were 
honourable men whom, though people have denied 
the fact, we have no reason to disbelieve. Their 
names were : Gomin, who entered the Temple the 
1 8th brumaire^ an III (November 8, 1794), and 
Lasne, nominated April 3, 1795, the successor to 
Laurent. The latter, it was said, had been ap- 
pointed by Barras on the morrow of the 9th 
thermidor at the recommendation of Madame de 



324 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

Beauharnais. This report gave rise to the story 
that Josephine had caused the Dauphin to be 
abducted from the Temple. 

Lasne and Gomin had attended, until the last 
day of his life, the child who died June 8, 1795, 
and whose body, as we already know, had been 
examined after death by four celebrated doctors 
and then interred in the cemetery of Sainte- 
Marguerite. 

We find in the Archives nationales the declara- 
tion of the Dauphin's demise, the prods-verbal of 
the post-mortem examination, and the proces-verbal 
of the interment. All the papers concerning this 
Dauphin malgre lui^ this false Dauphin, were in 
order. 

Lasne and Gomin related all they knew, all 
they saw, all they did — only they did not know 
that the child whom they had tended was not the 
son of Louis XVI. 

When, in 18 14, the duchesse d'Angouleme 
returned to Paris, ignorant of all the terrible 
revelations which she was to hear concerning her 
brother's death, she ordered researches to be made 
in the church,^ and probably in the cemetery, 
also, of Sainte - Marguerite. These researches 
were, however, unsuccessful. 

A few years ago the Commission du Vieux Paris 
made similar researches in the same spot, but these 
also were fruitless. 
1 Vicomte Sosth^ne de La Rochefoucauld, Mimoires^ vol. v, p. 45. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 325 

Why ? 

Because — in order, no doubt, to avoid any 
annoyance or manifestations a propos of this coffin 
— the Revolutionary committee of the Luxemburg 
section caused it to be removed on the night of 
the 25th pr atrial, an III, and transferred to the 
cemetery of Clamart, w^here it was immediately 
interred.^ 

After her return to Paris in 18 14, the duchesse 
d'Angouleme changed her opinion. Although she 
still believed that Gomin and Lasne had told her 
all they knew, she was now convinced that the sick 
child who died in the Temple in their presence 
was not her brother. She knew that another child 
had been substituted, not in order to rescue the 
prince and thus set him free, but to conceal a 
crime. 

She was told everything. 

But she herself could say nothing. She appeared 
anxious to have people think that she believed that 
her brother had been rescued. She would say 
nothing more. Cardinal de La Fare's reply to 
general dAndigne^ clearly shows that she desired 
to place a barrier between herself and the would-be 
revealers of the mystery. And by a strange fate 
the very man who had seen her brother's skeleton, 
and who could have shown her the exact spot 
where it was buried, was not allowed to have an 

^ M. de Beauchesne, Louh XVII, vol. ii, p. 363-365. 
2 See p. 278. 



326 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

audience with her. One would have thought that 
the cardinal de La Fare, whom, since the duchesse 
d'Angouleme had made his acquaintance in Vienna, 
she had learnt to trust, would have known her 
opinion upon such an important matter. 

And yet he did not. 

Even to him the princess could say nothing ; 
and when he replied, as we have already read, to 
that estimable man, general d'Andigne, who had 
fought for the royalist cause in La Vendee, he was 
acting in obedience to " orders " and " instructions " 
given by the cjuchesse d'Angouleme, who thus 
hoped to rid herself of the numerous " revealers " 
of secrets concerning Louis XVII. And they were 
many, if we believe some one who was sure of his 
facts when he stated that there were between one 
and two hundred false Dauphins in existence at that 
time.^ 

The duchesse d'Angouleme had, therefore, 
adopted a plausible version — a uniform reply — 
which she directed her servants to give to all 
those who wished to know her opinion. 

She kept the terrible truth to herself. 

But how did she learn the truth ? 

We can only conjecture. 

As the duchesse d'Angouleme never vouch- 
safed the smallest explanation — never gave the 
simplest detail about her brother's death, as she 
kept absolute silence on this important subject, 

^ Vicomte de La Rochefoucauld, Memoires^ vol. v, p. 6. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 327 

important both to herself and to the Bourbon 
dynasty, it was because she could say nothing. 

Why ? 

There is only one explanation. 

She had received either directly, or more prob- 
ably indirectly, from one of those few initiated 
survivors of the drama, the exact account of all 
that had happened. Her informant had made her 
utter a solemn vow never to reveal the secret. It 
is more than probable that this person, sick unto 
death, nearing the end of life's journey, " near unto 
God's hour," as Bossuet terms it in one of his beau- 
tiful sermons, wished to free his conscience from 
this torturing crime. It is also more than probable 
that he confided his secret to a priest under vows 
of secrecy, but with the understanding that the 
holy man was to reveal the terrible truth to the 
victim's sister after having made her swear that she 
would keep for ever silent. 

And this was how the duchesse d'Angouleme 
found herself in possession of the rabid terrorists' 
secret, and obliged, like them, to keep it. 

The great religious reaction which followed the 
vast hecatombs of the endless wars of the Empire, 
and the return of the Bourbons to France, makes 
this hypothesis even more probable. 

Let us now examine a few of the numerous 
facts which all tend to endorse our statements. 

After the re-establishment of the House of 
Bourbon, when the duchesse d'Angouleme went 



328 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

to visit the Temple, she ordered that some cypress- 
trees and a weeping-willow should be planted on a 
certain spot indicated by her, on the piece of ground 
once occupied by the tower of the Temple.^ Do 
we plant these symbols of death elsewhere but on 
graves ? . . . Let it not be said that she caused 
them to be planted in memory of her unhappy 
parents' sojourn in the gloomy tower. The king, 
the queen, and Madame Elisabeth had their own 
tomb ; they even had a chapelle expiatoire on 
the spot once occupied by the cemetery of the 
Madeleine ; pious hands had planted cypress-trees 
and weeping-willows in memory of their sufferings.^ 
The little Dauphin now had his own, planted by 
his sister's orders, perhaps by her very hand. 

That is why the princess caused a wooden fence 
— similar to the fences usually used for that pur- 
pose — to be placed round this gloomy little grove. 
And the profane thought that, by so doing, she 
wished to mark the site occupied by the dreadful 
prison where she had passed so many weary days. 
Little did she care for archeology ! She only 
wished to mark, quietly and unostentatiously — 
being bound by solemn vows — the place where a 
poor child, her brother, was sleeping his last sleep 
under the shadow of a weeping-willow.^ 

^ This tower was demolished, as we shall see later on, in i8i i. 
See M. de Beauchesne, Louh XFIIy vol. ii, lib. xxi. 

^ See Souvenirs de quarante ans^ p. 285. 

2 This weeping-willow is still alive. It stands in the Square 
du Temple, and marks, as we have just seen, almost the exact 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 329 

We will now indicate, according to the plans 
of the old buildings of the Temple, the exact spot 
whereon the little Louis XVH was buried. We 
quote from general d'Andigne's memoirs. 

" I can well remember, from the cursory glance 
obtained in 1801," says he, "that the Dauphin's 
body must have been buried about five feet below 
the surface, from ten to twelve feet distant from 
the east wall, and forty or fifty feet from the north 
wall, in a hole previously prepared to receive it, 
and later opened by a trench in which they wished 

spot occupied by the Dauphin's grave. When M. Alphand, the 
Le Notre of Paris, traced the plan of the Square du Temple, he 
took care not to disturb the weeping-willow, which he knew had 
been planted by the duchesse d'Angoul^me, but he was unaware 
that this tree marked the exact spot on which the poor victim had 
been buried. If he had known this fact, would he have placed 
on the grave of this child, for whom men had been so pitiless, 
Schoenewerck's pretty statue, entitled : This age is pitiless f 

Oh, infernal irony and contradiction of things ! Oh, supreme 
qui pro quo of fate ! But this biting jest, enthroned on the child's 
grave, will for ever re-echo adown the centuries in the ears of his 
executioners, who, in their turn, were caught in Death's icy 
clutches, and some of whom now rest in magnificent tombs 
surmounted by epitaphs in which they are likened to saints and 
angels ! 

This age is pitiless. We see it there on the little grave ! It 
makes us shudder. Shakespeare could not have imagined anything 
so dramatic. 

Note. — These lines were written three years ago. I do not 
wish to alter a single word. I will only add that to-day (1907) the 
weeping-willow no longer exists, and that Schoenewerck's bronze. 
This age is pitiless^ has been removed, and replaced by a statue of 
Diogenes, who, lantern in hand, is looking for a man. 

Is he not rather looking for a child ? 



330 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

to lay some new foundations, traces of which would 
facilitate our task. Unfortunately, a triangular 
plot of ground, measuring fifty odd feet, has been 
separated from the old enceinte in the angle leading 
to the Rotunda.^ A fire-brigade station and a wine- 
shop have been constructed on this spot, so that, 
if I am not mistaken in my statement that the 
Dauphin's remains were interred about fifty feet 
from the north wall, his resting-place must now be 
hidden by these buildings. 

" These remarks having been inscribed and 
signed by myself and all those present, I gave the 
document into the hands of the Mother Superior. 

" After the Revolution of February, the good 
sisters were banished from their retreat. I do not 
know what became of the site once occupied 
by the Temple buildings." ^ 

When we examine the plans of the Temple, 
and especially those made in 1808 and 1840, 
engraved in colours and published in a splendid 
work upon old Paris,^ it is easy to recognize the 
exact position indicated by M. d'Andigne ; we 
find it equally clearly indicated in the plan of 
the Square du Temple (1881), and in the plan 
of the Temple grounds (i 881), printed in red upon 

1 General d'Andigne revisited the grounds of the Temple in 
1840. They were just as he describes them. 

2 General d'Andigne, Memoires^ vol. ii, p^ 47. Note added in 
1852 in the general's own handwriting. 

^ Paris a tr avers les Ages^ 2 vols, in folio, vol. ii (Firmin- 
Didot). 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 331 

tracing-paper and superposed over the plans made 
in 1808 and 1840. Now, in 1808 we find that 
the grounds and buildings had not altered since 
1794. ^ 

This examination shows us that the present rue 
des Archives passes exactly through the middle of 
the site formerly occupied by the principal tower, 
that the town-hall of the 3rd arrondisse merit is 
built over the old garden, and that the little king's 
grave is now covered by the north wall of the said 
town-hall. The weeping-willow was therefore 
placed, not on the grave itself, but in front of it. 
The cypress-trees were planted on the grave. 

We can now understand why the duchesse 
d'Angouleme, who knew everything, when she 
heard that Simon's widow was still alive and living 
in the Hospital for Incurables,-^ refused to do any- 
thing for her, whereat the latter complained. 
Nothing could induce her to see this woman, the 
accomplice of her brother's murderer ; but al- 
though she refused to listen to any communications 
which people might wish to make to her — as she 
had already done in the case of M. d'Andigne — 
she sent some of her ladies-in-waiting to question 

1 Police report of November 15, 1 8 16. "... She is astonished 
that the duchesse d'Angouleme, who knows her condition and the 
valuable services rendered by her to the princess's august brother, 
does nothing for her. . . . She says that the Dauphin is still alive, 
that she is sure of this fact, and that he will eventually come to his 
own again " (Dr. Cabanes, he. c'lt.^ p. 476. See also Charles 
Nauroy, Les Secrets des Bourbons^ p. 80-95). 



332 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the child's gouvernante in the Hospital for Incur- 
ables. Did they question Simon's widow upon 
the fate of the Dauphin ? No, they only asked 
her about his daily life, what he had said and done 
during his captivity in the Temple. 

The minister of the Police generale^ M. le 
comte Decazes, evidently knew nothing about the 
revelations made to the duchesse d'Angouleme, 
and of course the latter could tell him nothing. 
What a strange state of affairs ! . . . Perhaps, 
however, she herself commanded him to make 
inquiries ; perhaps she allowed the minister of 
the police to act as he thought best, feeling that, 
in so doing, she was satisfying the public by 
pretending to take an interest in researches which 
could never again have any interest for her. M. 
Decazes then ordered the most careful inquiries to 
be made concerning the Dauphin's sojourn in the 
Temple, his death and burial ; he gathered to- 
gether all the documents and all the information 
which he could discover, and declared that he 
intended to reward all those persons who had 
rendered any services to the prisoners in the 
Temple. . . . And that is why he caused the 
inmate of the Hospital for Incurables to be 
interrogated. 

This good woman, who knew that Louis 
XVIII had returned to France and that the Bour- 
bons had been restored to power, did not wish to 
get herself into the Government's bad books. On 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 333 

the contrary, she thought the occasion favourable 
in which to speak a word for herself. That 
accounts for the optimist views expressed by her in 
the presence of the police officers and the royal 
" interviewers." Her assertions were tinged with 
a certain amount of truth ; but in her anxiety to 
make a good thing out of her allegations, she allowed 
her imagination to run away with her. Did she 
not affirm the existence of the Dauphin ^ in order 
to curry favour with the royal family, force them 
to be grateful, and give her substantial proofs of the 
said gratitude ? Any one who knows and who has 
studied the lower classes must be struck by the 
remarkable facility with which they lie — especially 
the female portion. So we must not trust too 
implicitly in the old woman's one-sided assertions ; 
we should do well to consider them as simple hear- 
say. Simon's widow declared that the Dauphin 
did not die in the Temple, that he was not dead, 
that he was still alive, very much alive, that she had 
seen him several times, and that he had even visited 
her in the Hospital for Incurables. She had in- 
vented and repeated all these stories in order to 
force the Bourbons to show their gratitude. 

And let us observe that these declarations could 
not — at least, so she imagined — compromise her in 
any way. She thought : " Let them and their 

^ " The love of self was far more highly developed in the 
woman Simon than in any of her companions " (De Beauchesne, 
Louis XVII, vol. ii, p. 88). 



334 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

police look for him ; let them find him if they 
can ; I wash my hands of the whole affair." 

We may believe the old inmate of the Hos- 
pital for Incurables ; but we must be on our guard 
when she informs us that " a coach was brought 
containing several pieces of furniture, a wicker 
hamper with a false bottom, and a cardboard 
hobby-horse, out of which they took the child 
who was to be substituted for the prince." But we 
must not believe her when she declares that " the 
latter was placed in a bundle of dirty linen, which 
was put, together with the hamper, in the coach." ^ 
This is nothing but the lie of an old woman who 
is anxious to pay court to those in authority so 
that she may reap benefits thereby ; and this lie 
was disproved by the ghastly discovery made in 
1 80 1 by the State-prisoners in the Temple, and by 
a hundred other facts ; it was merely a lie made to 
prove that other lie affirming that the Dauphin 
was still alive. " When the coach was about to 
leave the courtyard," she added, " the guards wished 
to inspect it." But she flew into a passion and 
pushed them aside, screaming that it only contained 
her dirty linen, and that they must let her pass. 

It was to mark her brother's tragic death, and 
not the transitory sojourn of her parents in the 
Temple, that the duchesse d'Angouleme established 
a convent on the very spot once occupied by the 

^ Cabanas, loc. c'lt.^ p. 433. Charles Nauroy, loc. cit.y 
p. 73-85. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 335 

hotel of the grand-prieur^ south of the site whereon 
the principal tower once stood, and not because her 
husband, the due d'Angouleme, in his position as 
grand-prieur of France, which position he held 
together with the title of admiral, owned the site 
of the Temple. 

It was for this same reason that she added, in 
1823, a chapel to the convent buildings.-^ 

Is not the name of the lady chosen to act as 
Mother Superior in this convent somewhat signifi- 
cant ? Her name was princesse Louise-Adelaide 
de Conde, abbess of Remiremont, and she was 
aunt to the due d'Enghien ! . . . This Bourbon 
princess, now the head of a community of Bene- 
dictine nuns belonging to the order of the " Per- 
petual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament," passed 
her time praying, on the very spot where one of 
her relations had been murdered, for the members 
of her family, one of whom had been buried in 
the Temple moat in 1794, and the other in the 
moat of Vincennes in 1804. 

If the duchesse d'Angouleme really believed 
that her brother did not die in the Temple — as 
cardinal de La Fare declared to M. d'Andigne — ■ 
would she have caused a weeping-willow and 
cypress-trees to be planted on this spot ? Would 
she have caused a convent and a chapelle expiatoire 
to be erected as she had done in the cemetery of 

* See the valuable plans contained in Paris a travers les Ages^ 
vol. ii. 



336 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the Madeleine ?,^ That is why the royal family, 
who also knew the terrible secret, and were bound 
by a solemn vow to keep silent, never mentioned 
the name of Louis XVII. Little did they care 
for what people might say, nor for the accusations 
of insensibility, neglect and egoisqi, nor for the 
suspicion of complicity caused by the silence of 
Louis XVIII, called by some " the usurper " ; this 
poor little victim seemed to be completely for- 
gotten, not only in their prayers and public cere- 
monies, but even in outward signs of mourning.2 

^ " Fontaine and Mercier erected this monument," says 
Chateaubriand, " in accordance with the pious wish expressed by 
Madame la Dauphine." 

2 " This child's very name would have been forgotten in his 
family epitaph if I had not reminded the Chambre des Pairs . . ." 
(Chateaubriand, Memoires (T outretombe^ vol. i, p. 269, Edition 
Ed. Bir6). On January 9, 1816, Chateaubriand pronounced the 
following splendid speech — alas ! but little known : 

" Surrounded by so many pitiful sights, we still bestow our 
pity on things least worthy of our compassion. This child-king, 
this young martyr who sang God's praises in the fiery furnace, 
has scarcely been mentioned in your divers projects and plans. Is 
it because he held such a humble place in our existence and history 
that we forget him ? But how long that life of suffering must 
have seemed to him ! how full of sorrow was his reign ! No aged 
king, bending under the weight of regal cares, hath ever borne 
such a heavy sceptre ! Never did the crown press so heavily on 
the forehead of Louis XVI, that pilgrim nearing the tomb, as the 
badge of innocence weighed on the brow of Louis XVII, but 
lately an infant in its cradle. What has become of that royal 
ward left in charge of his executioners, that orphan who could say 
with David's heir, ' My father and my mother have abandoned 
me ' ? Where is the companion in adversity, the brother of the 
orphan in the Temple ? Would he hear me if I uttered that terrible, 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 337 

In 1816 the police made inquiries which, 
though they were unsuccessful, satisfied the public. 

That is why, when Dr. Pelletan, who had 
assisted at the post-mortem examination in the 
tower of the Temple and had surreptitiously re- 
moved the child's heart and placed it in a bottle of 
alcohol, offered this heart to Louis XVIII, his 
offer was rejected. 

That is why the same child's hair, which had 
been cut off during the post-mortem examination 
and carefully collected by M. Domont, civil com- 
missary for the Section du Nord on guard in the 
Temple on the 21st prairial (June 9) and present 
during the examination, when it was offered in 
181 5 by him to the duchesse d'Angouleme, she 
refused his offer. 

That is why the duchesse d'Angouleme would 
not authorize any researches to be made in the 
cemetery of Sainte-Marguerite or in the Marais, 
where the body of the little sick child, who died 
in the tower of the Temple on June 10, according 
to the proces-verbal preserved at the Archives 
nationales^ had been interred — when the cure of 

well-known, too well-known question, ' Capet, are you asleep ? 
Get up ' ? He rises, gentlemen, in all his celestial glory, and he 
comes, asking us to give him a tomb ! . . . To the resolution of 
the Chamhre des Diputhy I propose to add an amendment complet- 
ing the resolution of January 21 : 'We humbly beg the king 
to command that a monument be erected to the memory of 
Louis XVII in the name, and at the expense, of the nation ' " 
{Opinions et Discours, p. 79). 
22 



338 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

the parish of Sainte-Marguerite, M. Lemercier, 
came and offered to look for the Uttle Dauphin, 
whom he believed to be buried there. ^ 

The duchesse d'Angouleme, being bound by 
vows of secrecy, could give no explanations what- 
ever. And that is why, when any one mentioned 
in her presence the burning question of her 
brother's death, she always refused to give any 
explanations or the smallest details concerning his 
sad fate. Moreover, she did not like people to 
speak of him before her ; every one realized that it 
pained her to hear his name mentioned, and so they 
respected her wishes. Besides, she would not have 
allowed herself to be drawn into a discussion unless 
she could have given very palpable proofs of her 
conviction. She kept her grief to herself: alone 
with her secret and her sacred memories, she was 
invariably silent. Her sorrows and her family 

^ See Ch. Nauroy, Les Secrets des Bourbons^ p. 98, note, and p, 99. 
The vicomte Sosthene de La Rochefoucauld, on the contrary, says 
in his memoirs that the duchesse d'Angouleme caused researches 
to be made in the church (he does not say the cemetery) of Sainte- 
Marguerite. All this is very possible, if we compare the dates. 
These researches were probably made before the princess really 
knew in whom to believe, perhaps they were made without her 
consent ; the work was, no doubt, accomplished in secret. Be 
that as it may, even if the duchesse d'Angouleme already knew 
the truth, she probably allowed these researches to be made before 
M. Lemercier offered his services, hoping thereby to settle, once 
and for all, the question of Louis XVII, and thus to satisfy the 
curiosity of the public. She probably gave, or ordered to be given, 
to the cure of Sainte-Marguerite the same reply which the cardinal 
de La Fare had given to M. d'Andign6, 




LA DUCHESSE D'ANGOULEME. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 339 

losses could have no interest for the public ; they 
could only arouse old memories and old passions 
which it were better to leave in peace. 

So when, during her exile, after the fall of 
Charles X, if any one dared to mention the mystery 
in her presence, she would reply very evasively, 
hoping thereby to discourage importunate and in- 
discreet questioners. And in 1832, on her return 
from England, during an excursion to the Hague, 
she said to M. de La Rochejaquelein, who was 
convinced that the Dauphin had been abducted 
and was still alive : " How could you ever think 
that, if there had been the smallest doubt about 
the matter, I should have hesitated to recognize 
him publicly .? Is it likely that I should prefer 
my uncle to my brother ? " ^ 

Observe that she gave no reason to explain 
why she was so certain that he was not her 
brother. 

And again on December 12, 1833, she wrote 
to a certain person who supported NaundorfFs 
claims : " I am too clearly convinced of the sad 
certainty of my brother's death to be able to recog- 
nize him in the person who claims to be that 
brother." 2 

Yet another time, NaundorfF, whom she would 
never consent to meet, one day placed himself in 

^ Duchesse de Gontaut, Mimoires, p. 379, 
^ Vicomte Sosth^ne de La Rochefoucauld, Mimoires, vol. v, 
p. 136. 



340 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

her path, and, just as she was passing, threw him- 
self into her arms, calHng her " my sister ! " She 
pushed him aside, and said to the duchesse de 
Parme, who was walking with her : " Don't I know 
that he is dead ? " ^ 

Alas ! yes, she knew it, and these words, uttered 
in her strange, peculiarly harsh and cavernous voice, 
are most impressive and heart-rending in their sad, 
despairing resignation. 

Let us now, at the risk of repeating our asser- 
tions, give a short summary. 

We think that we have clearly proved, by what 
we have just related, that the Dauphin died a violent 
death, and that a little sick child of about his own 
age, chosen from one of the hospitals, and con- 
demned by reason of his miserable health to a 
speedy death, was substituted in his place. This 
poor nameless creature's death was legally and 
ofRcially announced under the name of the 
Dauphin. 

As the body of the son of Louis XVI and 
Marie-Antoinette had been interred at night-time 
in a corner of the Temple grounds, and covered 
with quicklime, as had been done to the bodies of 
the king and queen in the cemetery of the Madeleine, 
the death of his substitute was useful in that it 
enabled his guardians to fulfil all the formalities 
required by law. Everything was in perfect order, 
and the Administration was unimpeachable. We 
^ Comte d'Osmond, Reliques et ImpressionSy p. 87. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 341 

know well that, although we may acknowledge 
that the child whose corpse was examined in the 
Temple was not the Dauphin, although we may- 
believe in general d'Andign^'s statements, it may- 
be urged that the discovery of a child's skeleton in 
the moat of the Temple does not prove that the 
said skeleton belonged to the Dauphin. 

Granted ; but if we compare these two facts, 
we must necessarily be convinced of the truth of 
our assertions. The probabilities in favour of our 
statement that this was the Dauphin's skeleton are 
such that it must appear absolutely certain to an 
unbiassed thinker. 

Perhaps it will be interesting to learn that 
Fouche, the thermidorien, after having been made 
due d'Otrante, did not like to walk near the tower 
of the Temple. That great black silhouette, 
dominating a whole quartier of Paris, seemed to 
distress him. Towards the end of the Empire, 
when, perhaps, he was thinking — who knows ? — 
of becoming an honest man, he suggested to 
Napoleon that the building should be demolished. 
Napoleon, like Fouche, was not fond of monu- 
ments which had witnessed embarrassing historical 
events ; he knew, also, that certain reports had 
been circulated about Pichegru's death, and he did 
not wish the gloomy tower to keep those reports 
fresh in the people's memory. The spectre of 
Pichegru, who had been found strangled in his 
cell in the Temple — although Napoleon was quite 



342 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

innocent of his death — came, perhaps, together 
with the ghost of the due d'Enghien, to haunt 
him and to disturb his dreams of glory. 

And then, this tower reminded the people that 
they could get rid of troublesome sovereigns with 
the same facility with which the latter had once 
got rid of any one who stood in their way. So, 
when the Empire fell, the tower had already been 
demolished for four or jfive years. The ground 
was now level where, during eight centuries, the 
majestic pile once stood. Not even a stone 
remained : etiam periere ruinae. 

If we wish to judge calmly of any epoch, we 
must call imagination to our aid to help us to live 
in the past, we must participate in the enthusiastic 
transports of those feverish days, realize the events 
and circumstances which caused those troublous 
times, put ourselves in the place of the principal 
actors in the drama, and be swayed by the same 
passions and assailed by the same temptations to 
which they succumbed. 

We must remember that the conventionneh, in 
their exalted patriotism, had become quite fanatical ; 
that the endless perils at home and abroad had 
exasperated them until they could no longer bear 
the strain, and that their hatred of the monarchy 
had almost maddened them; we must remember 
their youthful ardour (for they nearly all died 
before attaining their thirtieth year), together with 
the intoxicating delight of possessing unlimited 




NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 343 

powers in those strenuous, passionate days, under 
the eyes of an ever-seething populace, and that, 
under such peculiar circumstances, and when such 
immortal deeds had been accomplished, they had 
the right to plead many extenuating circumstances. 

Having said this, we must also rememb&r that 
if, during an exceptional crisis in the life of a 
nation — " a crisis of growth," as Taine termed the 
Revolution — any mud lies in the lowest ranks of the 
populace or in the people's conscience, it is sure to 
rise to the surface ; even the finest wines are not 
entirely free from dregs ; though the flood carries 
golden nuggets in its bosom, it also carries filth and 
impurities. Many of the conventionnels^ although not 
entirely devoid of noble and spirited feelings, were 
subject to fits of meanness ; though some were 
courageous and unselfish, others cringed in obedi- 
ence to the petty tyrants of the day instead of 
boldly asserting their independence. We must 
remember that Madame Roland called them " an 
assembly of cowards " ; ^ that the abbe Gregoire, 
future count and senator during the Empire, said 
that "the Convention contained two or three hundred 
scoundrels, and was chiefly composed of cowards." ^ 
And yet time in its flight has metamorphosed the 
men whom Madame Roland called " pigmies " ^ 
into the " giants " of the Convention. 

We cannot agree with those who only give 

^ Lettre a Buzot, published by Dauban, p, 44. 

^ Mimoires^ vol. ii, p. 45. ^ Udemoires^ vol. ii, p. 95. 



344 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

praise when they can do so without any mental 
reservation ; the Convention^ in the matter of mean- 
ness, had no cause to envy the old court, " that 
vast storehouse of knaves and imbeciles." 

The Revolution, with all its principal actors 
and their deeds, is now so far away ; the over- 
heated passions which caused so many crimes are 
now as cold as the bodies of their slaves ; every 
one can now speak openly. And that is why the 
historian ought to search calmly and impartially 
for the truth and to examine thoroughly the actions 
and consciences of those men who, no matter 
the epithets bestowed upon them by their friends, 
enemies, contemporaries, or successors, played the 
principal parts during this crisis in our national life. 

So it is not at all surprising that one or. more of 
these " cowards " and these " pigmies " of the 
Convention J in conjunction with other " cowards " 
and " pigmies " belonging to the Commune^ should 
have plotted the drama of the Temple such as we 
have just related. After having sent the father, 
mother and aunt to the scaffold, can we be sur- 
prised that they killed the child ? But the fact 
that they covered their crime with a veil of 
hypocrisy is truly surprising. His tender age, if 
not the law which only allowed the murder of 
grown persons, ought to have protected him. But 
these " law-scribbling executioners," as they were 
stigmatized by one of their most illustrious victims,-^ 
1 Andr6 Chenier. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 345 

did they observe any laws ? Did they not know- 
how to distort and violate them according to their 
good pleasure ? Never have men more blindly 
obeyed their evil passions, and even those of their 
neighbours, than in those days — and they fondly 
imagined and pretended that they were acting in 
accordance with their principles ! Every day they 
committed cruel deeds, and thought they were 
doing good because they tricked out their atroci- 
ties in pompous, stilted Latin phrases. Verily they 
seem to have read, not the gentle Jean-Jacques 
Rousseau, not Voltaire's mad witticisms, but Mas- 
curat^ in which Gabriel Naude gave recipes for 
what he considered lawful practices according to 
circumstances : murders, imprisonments and other 
proceedings equally creditable to politics and civil- 
ization. Though they were always talking of 
fraternity and spouting empty phrases full of 
allusions to equality and liberty, they were longing 
to strike ; they threatened, and the deed immediately 
followed the threat. 

This cynical way of looking at things was not 
peculiar to the Republicans. The Vendeens, with 
one or two splendid exceptions, as, for instance, 
the generous Bonchamp, were all cut to the same 
pattern. They, also, had no pity for their fellow- 
creatures. We need but remember the massacres 
at Machecoul, Charette's brutality and Pageot's 
atrocious conduct in the Marais. Both sides, bleus 
as well as blancs^ were pitiless. " No mercy ! " 



346 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

was the cry of Commune and Convention. " No 
quarter ! " was the password of prince and Vendeen. 
The pages of the history of these intolerant times 
are stained with blood. Happily we can view 
these men in several lights ; appearances are often 
deceptive, and many of these men were born for 
better things. Lebon, of Arras, a tender-hearted 
fellow, was baptized " the well-named " by his 
friends. These enthusiastic partisans of civil war, 
these admirers of Convention., Commune and club, who 
both in Paris and la Vendee had a greater opinion 
of themselves than of their duty to their fellow-men, 
were all afflicted with the same mental disease, the 
same mad impulses which attacked many a heart 
more generous than high-principled, and from 
which both sides alike suffered more or less accord- 
ing to their passions and prejudices, their interests 
or their characters. Can one escape the maladies 
of one's time ? Impulse has much to answer for. 
Fear at that time was stronger than enthusiasm ; 
the wildest passions were omnipotent, and, then as 
now, brutal tyrants drove before them flocks of 
timid peace-lovers, grumblers, dogs in the manger, 
turncoats and " the frogs in the marsh." And yet, 
in private life, with a few exceptions, these men 
who, to gratify their love of high-flown senti- 
ments and to show off their oratorical powers, used 
to call each other cowards, bandits, brigands,^ who 

^ See the Mimoires de La Revelliere-Lepeaux. Paris. Plon. 
3 vols, in 8vo. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 347 

seemed to think fire, pillage and murder necessary 
to the foundation of all good republics, and who 
sent each other to the guillotine — these men were 
easy-going, soft-hearted fellows who loved peace 
and hard work, cherished their wives and adored 
their children. We need only look at Fouche in 
his daily family life : was there ever a better papa ? 
And he was such a good-hearted fellow ! 

And yet these men murdered the little child in 
the Temple. They were as pitiless then as the 
duchesse d'Angouleme was pitiless in 1815. But 
in her case, as in the case of the executioners of 
her family, this cruelty was caused by the desire 
for revenge. And to this very day both political 
parties continue to worship their respective ideals. 

But let us try to look calmly at the matter and 
repeat with La Bruyere : " It is ever a new source 
of astonishment to me to behold with what cruelty 
men treat their fellow-creatures." And yet La 
Bruyere had witnessed neither the Revolution nor 
the Empire, nor the first years of the Restauration. 

But how could they find it in their hearts to 
kill a child .? . . . English history, however, can 
furnish us with a precedent, a double precedent ! 
Why should these men be more scrupulous than 
the Enghsh who, when they beheaded their king, 
Charles I, set the example imitated by the Parisians 
in order to rid themselves of Louis XVI ? And 
then, the two children of Edward were murdered 
in the Tower of London ; the son of " Capet " and 



348 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

of the " Austrian woman " could easily be murdered 
in the tower of the Temple. And then they would 
let the daughter go free. Besides, this was not the 
first step in the downward path to bloody crimes 
and guilt ; they were up to their knees in blood, 
Vendeens and republicans alike wallowed in it.^ 

What did it matter to the authors and approvers 
of the September massacres whether they shortened 

^ General Turreau, having asked M. d'Elb^e, who had been 
made prisoner by the bleus : " If we were in your power, what 
would you do with us ? " He replied : " I should do what you are 
going to do to me." He knew very well that he was going 
to be shot. (Mme. de Sapinaud, Mimoires^ p. 64.) When 
writing about the inhumanity of those days, I usually prefer to 
cite female evidence, for women ought to be more humane and 
charitable than men. Mme. de La Rochejaquelein, who was escort- 
ing on horseback the carriage in which her first husband, M. de 
Lescure, lay dying, wrote : " I must confess that on that day, having 
noticed the bodies of several republicans lying by the roadside, a kind 
of secret and involuntary madness made me, without uttering a 
word, urge my horse to trample on those who had killed M. de 
Lescure." (Mme. de La Rochejaquelein, Memoires^ p. 273.) 
We find these acts of fanaticism, these bloody deeds of 
vengeance, this cold-blooded cruelty on all sides and in all civil 
wars. The Vendeens, although we are obliged to esteem them, 
and although they were made the object of a kind of worship, 
were, no less than the revolutionists of Paris, swayed by these 
terrible passions. They also had their "guillotine furies." But 
we find tender-hearted women in both camps. Mile. Pauline de 
Tourzel (later comtesse de B6arn), having been saved from the 
September massacres by Manuel, public prosecutor to the Commune^ 
was taken to the house of a lady, who received her with the greatest 
kindness. " This person," she wrote in her gratitude, " this 
person, to whom I owed these first moments of consolation, was 
Mme. Carnot, sister-in-law of the future Directeur" (Souvenirs 
de quarante ans, p. 219). 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 349 

the life of this child or not ? . . . Many a perverted 
conscience, by coolly and calmly considering the 
possibility of committing some bad deed or crime 
from which it hopes to reap pleasure or profit, 
finally ceases to feel any horror of that crime. 

Besides, sophisms were just as fashionable in 
those days as cold-blooded cruelty and false sensi- 
bility. " It is no good to punish them, we must 
annihilate them," ^ cried Couthon, speaking of the 
" enemies of the fatherland," and we know that 
this saying can be interpreted in many ways. 
Collot d'Herbois, for his part, said : " What does 
one care for justice or injustice in revolutionary 
times ! " 

It has been often said that they wished to 
poison the Dauphin. The royalist Eckard, in his 
Memoires historiques sur Louis XVII, quotes several 
motions made by representatives : Mailhe, Chabot, 
Brival, etc., tending to get rid of the " little Capet." 
It would be easy to quote other similar proposals. 
This proves that the crime was in the air, that the 
plot was boiling and bubbling, ready to burst forth 
from the crucible in a molten crimson stream. We 
may mention that proposals to kill the Dauphin were 
made after the 9th thermidor, that is to say, more 
than six months after the unhappy child had been 
suppressed. So the secret had remained among a 
few of the initiated ; the 9th thermidor swept away 
the greater number of those who were concerned 
^ Couthon, Rapport du 22 prairial, an III. 



350 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

in the plot. Not all of them, however, for 
Courtois seems to have known the truth, and there 
was probably some one (he himself, perhaps ^) who 
told, or rather charged a second person to tell, the 
whole story to the duchesse d'Angouleme. Unless 
B arras, who was not a republican a la Cato^ and whom 
Taine called " the most shameless of the corrupted," 
told her the secret in order to escape the law of 
January 12, 18 16, which banished all former 
Ytgicidit-conventiomiels from France. For B arras 
seems to have possessed fewer rights to royal 
mercy than any of his companions ; it was he, in 
fact, who, on the 19th nivose, an III (January 8, 
1795), made a motion tending to celebrate in 
future by a grand fete the anniversary of the day 
on which the last tyrant-king expiated on the scaffold 
the crimes with which he had sullied his name. In 
his Memoires 2 he modestly, all too modestly, 
reminds us that it was he who took the initiative : 
" The Commission extraordinaire des Cinq seemed 
only to have been instituted in order to serve as a 
scapegoat for the Comites. As the Commission's 
agent, I was ordered to draw up a report upon the 
fete of January 21." 

Barras wrote three accounts of his visit to the 
Temple. Therefore he must have realized the 

1 Courtois, who had purchased the estate of Montboisier, had 
erected a monument to the memory of M. de Malesherbes, the 
defender of Louis XVI. 

2 Vol. i, p. 224. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 351 

importance of the subject — even from his own 
exclusively personal point of view. These three 
accounts are all precisely similar except for a few 
insignificant details. This does not mean that the 
author really meant what he wrote ; on the con- 
trary, perhaps. . . . Like the widow Simon, he 
was an accomplished liar. M. G. Duruy, the 
editor of B arras's Memoir es, says in his introduction : 
" What a heart this gentleman must have had 
who, though he mentions the subject three times 
in the notes made in his own handwriting, does 
not once seem touched by the memory of that 
visit paid to the dying child of his king ! " This 
is rather a naive remark, when we remember that 
he is talking of B arras ; but it tends to prove the 
fact that the child seen by Barras in the Temple 
on the loth thermidor^ at six o'clock in the morn- 
ing, was not the son of Louis XVI — and Barras 
knew it ! But does he not allude to his murder^ 
the work of so many active or passive accomplices ; 
does he not seem to acknowledge that this murder 
influenced, in some mysterious manner, the fate of 
the Convention when he wrote the following rather 
ambiguous sentence : " Although this epoch (the 
epoch preceding the 9th thermidor) may seem 
easily explained by human passions, pretexts and 
the ever-present dread of the enemy at our gates, 
there must have been other and more mysterious 
circumstances which caused such a state of uni- 
versal terror ; philosophers and publicists would 



352 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

do well to examine this question very carefully 
before deciding whether this was an anomalous 
case in the history of truth or not." ^ 

Tallien was also authorized to remain in 
France, and he certainly knew as much about the 
Dauphin as Barras himself knew.^ Perhaps he 
also spoke ; perhaps it was thanks to his revela- 
tions that he escaped the fate of his accomplices. 
It has been said that clemency was shown towards 
him in gratitude for his conduct on the 9th 
thermidor^ — but is this really true ? 

But we must let sleeping dogs lie. Once more 
we must doubt and pass on. Be that as it may, 
the whole atmosphere in 1793 and 1794 was full 
of fire and blood ; mad whims and fanaticism 
obliterated all traces of common-sense, all feelings 
of humanity ; cartloads of human beings were 

1 Barras, Mkmoires^ vol. i, p. 211. 

2 Tallien, however, went to Bordeaux, October 16, 1793, and 
remained there until February 22, 1794. So he did not participate 
— at least, so we may suppose — in the suppression of the Dauphin. 
And yet about 1796 the anonymous author of a work, in which 
Tallien is apostrophized in violent terms upon his conduct, says to 
him (p. 169) : "If your cheeks are not bedewed with tears as you 
read this article, if your heart is not galled by repentance . . . 
you are not a man. . . . Then, deaf to all else but righteous 
indignation, I shall unveil the frightful picture of the past, I shall 
tell on what spot, at what hour, and by what monsters that fatal 
draught was prepared, and how this innocent victim expired in the 
Temple ! " {Manuel des assemblies primaires et electorales de France^ 
Hamhourg et Parisy in i2mo, undated. — Quoted by Dr. Cabanes, 
also in Eckard's Memoirs). 

3 Chancelier Pasquier, Mimoires^ vol. i, p. 115. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 353 

sent like sheep to the slaughter-house, as in 
old days religious fanatics burned their fellow- 
creatures because they did not agree with them 
concerning the interpretation of sundry passages 
in the Holy Scriptures. Fanaticism is always the 
same, no matter what disguise it may assume ; but 
it is strange that its victims belong chiefly to that 
class of men so cleverly described by La Bruyere 
when he said : " A devotee is a person who, under 
an atheistical king, would be an atheist." And 
Payan explains the meaning of fanaticism in his 
letter dated i8th brumaire^ an II: "Even if 
Philippe (d'Orleans) had been innocent, if his 
death could have been of any use, he would have 
had to die." ^ 

This argument, propounded by Payan with 
astonishing ingenuousness and arbitrary cynicism, 
explains the " principle " by virtue of which the 
Dauphin had to disappear. They had declared 
that " his death might be of use, and so he had to 
perish." Fine jurisprudence, forsooth, but it was 
current in those days ! 

It is only too true that those who were impli- 
cated in the abominable murder of this child then 
tried to throw all the blame upon the man who 
was certainly more guilty than his accomplices, 
but who could no longer defend himself, and 
whom they made the scapegoat for all the crimes 

^ Papiers inMits trouvh chez. Robespierre^ Saint-Justy Payan^ etc.^ 
supprimes ou omis par Courtois^ vol. ii, p. 396. 
23 



354 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

— including their own — committed during the 
Revolution. This man was Robespierre, whom 
M. Thiers, so partial, so unreasonably indulgent 
towards the thermidoriens, loaded with all the latter's 
misdeeds. Politicians already knew how to lie at 
that time. 

In fact we read, among the papers found in 
Robespierre's lodgings and published by Courtois, 
a letter giving us some very valuable clues : it is 
evidently the work of a forger; it is anonymous, 
although signed Niveau;'^ it was probably never 
sent to Robespierre, but it would seem as if it 
had been placed among his papers after the loth 
thermidor — as if it had been put there in order to 
replace some papers which had been stolen and 
which the thief took good care not to publish. 

This is what the letter says : 

" A few more heads off and the dictatorship is 
yours. , . . For political reasons, leave the little 
Capets and their aunt in peace ; if you killed the 
boy, the crowned brigands would immediately 
proclaim as their king the stout gentleman at 
Ham. ..." This anonymous letter tends to 
throw the responsibility of the Dauphin's murder, 
if it were discovered, upon Robespierre. Perhaps 
it was concocted by one of the latter's accomplices, 
a thermidorien no doubt, some quack dispenser of 
humanity and virtue, who, by this letter, wished to 
throw his pursuers off the scent. Such a hypothesis 
1 Niveau = level. , 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 355 

is quite possible if we recollect that he who is 
afraid of being suspected of a misdeed which he 
is anxious to conceal, tries to justify himself even 
before he is accused, tries to deny his fault and to 
lay the blame upon some one else before any one 
thinks of suspecting him. 

On the other hand, this letter would tend to 
prove all the conjectures and " quasi-proofs " con- 
cerning the murder of the Dauphin as quoted by 
us. It would seem as if Courtois, or some other 
thermidorien, one of Robespierre's accomplices, 
had, by this letter, tried to throw all the blame 
upon Robespierre — Robespierre of whom they rid 
themselves according to the laws and customs of 
those times, as he himself had got rid of Hebert 
and Chaumette, because he wanted to call them to 
account for all their thefts, extravagance and other 
misdeeds. 

In Herault de Sechelles' letter to Carrier we 
find something tending to prove that the document 
signed Niveau was a forgery : " When a represen- 
tative has been sent on a mission, and when he has 
to strike, he must strike hard and leave all respon- 
sibility to the executioners ; he must never com- 
promise himself in writing." ^ 

That is why we possess no written proofs of 
the drama in the Temple. It is easy to under- 
stand that no one wished to leave any traces of it. 
Besides, many of those who knew the secret 

'^ Hist, parlement^ vol. xxxiv, p. 193. 



356 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

perished on the 1 1 th thermidor ; most of the 
conspirators had already perished, and the few 
survivors kept their tongues behind their teeth. 
Barras, who must have known everything, con- 
firmed the official lie with another lie. Barere, 
who never compromised himself more than he 
could help, said nothing ; Levasseur (de la Sarthe) 
followed suit. . . , 

It would be useless to try to discover the 
names of those responsible for the murder of this 
child : what does it matter whether they were 
hebertistes or dantonistes, robe spier ristes or ther- 
midoriens ? All these men now belong to ancient 
history. The Convention governed through its 
two powerful Comites ; and any Government is 
guilty which cannot prevent or which ignores the 
arbitrary deeds and cruel actions committed under 
cover of its own tyrannical misdeeds. We must 
remember Carrier's terrible but truly apposite say- 
ing ; when he was summoned before the Conven-^ 
tion to give an account of his mission in Nantes, 
he cried : " Every one is guilty here, every one 
and everything, even the president's bell is not 
innocent ! " ^ 

And here we finish our task of examination. 

The lines which we have just read are by no 
means mere idle gossip overheard in salons or 
whispered by the fireside ; nor are they more or 

^ Thibaudeau, Memoires, vol. i, p. 142. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 357 

less literary fancies such as we find in many 
so-called historical works written in the interest of 
certain political parties to whom the author lends 
his pen and his opinions ; in such works he for- 
gets to consult nothing except reliable evidence 
and authentic documents ; he looks for everything 
but the truth. Having no documents to help us 
in our task — and we have explained in the words 
of Herault de Sechelles why no documents ^exist 
on the subject — we have refrained as much as 
possible from expressing mere idle conjectures ; 
but having compared facts and documents, we 
drew our own conclusions. 

And thus we discovered the truth. 

Before concluding, we will say one word con- 
cerning NaundorfF. As medical science had already 
proved that the child who died in the Temple, 
June 8, 1795, was not the same as the boy who 
entered the prison, August 13, 1792, so it proved 
that Naundorff could not be the son of Louis XVI 
and Marie-Antoinette. Let us simply copy the 
following lines, published in a scientific periodical, 
concerning the marks or " stigmas " transmitted by 
parents to their offspring : 

" We find numerous traces of this mark (pro- 
minent lower jaw) among the members of the 
French royal family. Louis XVI and Marie- 
Antoinette both bore the distinguishing features 
of the House of Habsburg. From this family 



358 THE KING WHO NEVER REIGNED 

likeness, M. V. Galippe has drawn an extremely 
interesting inference, especially important to all 
those who are interested in the fate of Louis XVH. 
He considers that the NaundorfFs have not in- 
herited the prominent lower jaw, and that therefore 
they are not descended from the son of Louis XVI ; 
the mark of the Habsburgs should be even more 
pronounced in their case, as both father and mother 
bore the distinguishing family marks." ^ 

And yet the vicomte Sosthene de La Rochefou- 
cauld, after his first interview with NaundorfF, 
wrote to the duchesse d'Angouleme (November 
i6, 1833) : "I found myself in the presence of a 
man who certainly bore some resemblance to the 
well-known portraits of Louis XVII and whose 
features were not unlike the features of the 
Bourbon family." ^ 

But who does not know with what facility, 
after more or less time spent before the mirror, 
actors manage to resemble any historical personage 
whom they may wish to represent ? How many 
have we not seen who, according to Napoleon's 
contemporaries, could paint their faces to resemble 
the Emperor ? During the reign of Louis-Philippe, 

* La Nature for November 4, 1905, article by Dr. A. Cartaz 
on the work by Dr. V. Galippe, member of the Academte de 
Medecine — UHerkdiU des stigma tes de degenerescence et les families 
souveraines, i vol. in 8vo, 456 pages. Masson et Cie., ^diteurs, 
Paris. 

^ Vicomte Sosthene de La Rochefoucauld, M^moiresy vol. v, 
p. 125. 



THE DRAMA IN THE TEMPLE 359 

Gobert of the Tthedtre de la Forte-Saint-Mar tin ^ and 
Edmond of the Cirque^ became famous for this 
resemblance. Doubtless NaundorfF, for his part, 
tried to resemble, as much as possible, Louis XVI 
and Marie-Antoinette. 



INDEX 



Alfieri, 293 

Andigne, Comte d', 275, 277- 

279,281,325-326, 329-331 
Angouleme, Duchesse d'. See 

Marie Therese 
Antoine, 27-28 
Artois, Comte d', 74 
Avaux, Abbe d', 21, 32, 36, 

38 

Barnave, 34 

Batz, Baron de, 112-114 
Beauchesne, de, 307 
Beauharnais, Josephine de, 182- 

183, 188, 195, 324 
Berry, Due de, 218 
Billaud-Varennes, 93-94 
Brentabolle, 124 
Bruneau, Mathurin, 259 

Calonne, de, 17 

Cambac6res, 125, 317 

Canibon, 85-86 

Caraman, de, 302 

Carnot, 290 

Catherine II, 75 

Chabot, 152 

Chambon, 68 

Chamilly, 53 

Charette, Chevalier de, 140, 

Chaumette, 61-62, 105, 108, 
288-289, 291-297, 299, 308- 
309 



Chenaye, M. de la, 46 
Choppart, 153, 1 80-1 81 
Clery, 59, 65-73, 181 
Cochefer, Chrostophe, 311 {note) 
Condorcet, 50 
Couthon, 108, 310 
Crappart, 156 
Cressant, 108 

Danton, 109 
Decazes, Comte, 332 
Desault, Pierre Joseph, 141- 

144 {note), 153-155, 180- 

181, 254-255 
Descloseaux, Olivier, 157 
Dillon, General, 85-86 
Domont, 337 

Dufresne, Jean-Francois, 260 
Duhem, 1 19-120 
Dumangin, Dr., 145-149, ^53, 

282 
Dumouriez, 82 




Fauconnier, 275-277, 304 
Finers, Mile. Jeanne, 216 
Firmont, Abb6 de, 73 
Fleurieu, Chevalier de, 40 
Fouch6, 188, 301-302, 341 



36] 



362 



INDEX 



Fouquier-Tinville, 283 

Garat, 70 
Gomin, 323-325 
Grenet, Abb6, 39 

Harmand de la Meuse, 126- 

138, 163 {note), 287 
Hubert, 82, 103-106, 108, 292- 

297, 305, 308-309 . 
Hervagault, Jean-Marie, 256- 

257 
Hue, 21, 29, 35-36, 41-43, 46, 

53> 56-58, 61-62, 141, 155, 

314-315 

Jarjaye, Chevalier de, 76-80 

Lacroix, de, 109, 124 

La Fare, Cardinal de, 278, 325- 

326 
La Fayette, 23, 36 
Lasne, 264, 323-325 
Lasnier, Jacques, 31 1-3 1 2 
Lassus, Dr., 282 
Lecoque, 21 1-2 13 
Legrand, Pierre-Jacques, 312 
Lepitre, 77-78, 81 
Lequinio, 124-125 
Leschot, Jean-Fr6d6ric, 248- 

250 [note] 
Louis XVI, 18-74 
Louis-Charles (proclaimed Louis 

XVII), 17-74 et passim, 

150-152 {note), 162-169 

{note) 
Louis XVIII, 74, 156-158, 

267, 332, 336-337 
Lullier, 83 

Marassin, 215, 258 
Marie- Antoinette, 19-65, 97- 
102 {note), 103-107, 268 



Marie Ther^se {Madame Royale, 
afterwards Duchesse d'Angou- 
Ume), 22-24, 33-34, 37> 48, 
51-55,59-66,70-72,77-82, 
104-106, 109, 1 1 8-1 19 (w/^) 
et passim 

Mathieu, Dr., 121, 287 

Meves, Auguste, 261 

Molleville, Bertrand de, 30-31 

Montgalliard, 321 

Montmorin, 178, 1 86-1 88, 
194-198 

Napoleon I, 341 
NaundorfF, Karl William, 173- 
253, 269-270, 339, 357- 

359 
Nauroy, Dr., 139 

Pelletan, Philippe Jean, 144- 
147 {note), 148-149, 153- 
154,159,282,337 

Persat, Victor, 260 

Pdtion, 45-46 

Pichegru, 188, 341 

Pius VI, 186 

Polignac, Duchesse de, 2i 

Rambaut, Madame de, 243 
Reverchon, 287 
Richemont, 263-267 
Robespierre, 117, 290-291, 
302, 308-310, 318, 320, 

354-355 
Rocher, 48, 59 
Rcederer, 47-48 
Royale, Madame, ^ee Marie 

Thdr^se 

Saint- Just, 310 
S^chelles, Herault de, 83-84 
S6nar, 294-295 
S6rent, Duchesse de, 33 



INDEX 363 

Simon, Antoine, 88-93 («^^^), Tarente, Princesse de, 41 

95-104, 106-108, 282,292- Th6os, Catherine, 115 

294, 296, 298-300, 302-305, Toulan, 76-79, 81 

312 Tourzel, Marquise de, 22-24, 

Simonin, 319-320 33-35, 42, 48, 51-53, 60-61 

Tallien, 153, 352 Vien, 37 



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